This Saturday the North Carolina Tar Heels host the Clemson Tigers at Kenan Stadium, as both teams continue to search for their first ACC Conference win. Clemson is coming off a 30-21 loss to Miami, where the Tigers committed six turnovers and allowed four passing touchdowns to Miami’s Jacory Harris.
The Tar Heels on the other hand, are coming off their best performance of the season as they dominate East Carolina 42-17 as Shaun Draughn and Johnny White both rushed for over 100 yards on the day. The key for the Tar Heels in this game is to get pressure on Clemson quarterback Kyle Parker. The more Carolina can hit and pressure Parker, the better the chance the Heels will have at slowing down this Clemson offense. Offensively, the Heels must continue to establish the running game in order to allow T.J. Yates the time to make smart decisions and keep playing like he has been.
PREDICTION: In this game, I see a defense of battle where the Clemson defense is able to effectively stiffen the Carolina running attack and thus put the onus on T.J. Yates. With the return of Deunta Williams in the UNC secondary, Carolina will be able to induce a few coverage sacks and allow that front four to get enough pressure on Kyle Parker to force a few mistakes. I think UNC pulls this one out simply because they will make fewer mistakes as UNC pulls this one out. I see the final score being UNC 23 Clemson 17.