Orange Bowl Preview: Clemson vs West Virginia

Clemson Tigers (10-3 overall, 6-2 in ACC)

Most impressive victory: Virginia Tech- take your pick

Worst loss: 37-13 at North Carolina State (Nov. 19)

Notable alumni: CJ Spiller, Dwight Clark, Larry Nance, Strom Thurmond, Tree Rollins, William Perry

Clemson started out the season looking like it might be this years Auburn. Led by Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins, the Tigers put up 30+ points in seven of their first eight as they streaked out to an 8-0 record and the #5 ranking in the country. Clemson beat some decent teams along the way as they topped Auburn, FSU and Virginia Tech as well as a bowl bound UNC.

Then came the letdown that everybody was waiting for and Clemson lost three of their last four (including blow-outs at the hands of NC State and South Carolina) before rebounding to win the ACC Championship Game over Virginia Tech.

The cog that makes Clemson go is first year OC Chad Morris. Clemson finished second in the ACC in points scored (33.6), first in passing yards (284.8 ypg) and second in total yardage (440.6 ypg). Clemson also finished third in the league in 3rd down conversions (44.61%) and led the league in plays over 10 yards. Tajh Boyd had a great overall year as a first time starter for the Tigers (3578 yards passing, 31 TD vs 10 INT) but he struggled in games the Tigers lost (more INTs than TDs vs GT and NC State and only threw for 83 yards against South Carolina). Boyd had many weapons at receiver and took full advantage of them. Freshman WR Sammy Watkins led all freshman receivers in the Nation with 78 catches and 11 TD (tied for TDs with USC’s Marqise Lee). Watkins wasn’t the only receiving weapon as soph DeAndre Hopkins caught 61 balls and outstanding TE Dwayne Allen hauled in 47. Did I also mention that RB Andre Ellington had over 1000 yards rushing? Clemson had a lot of weapons and Chad Morris did a great job this year using them.

The big question mark for Clemson is their defense. The Tigers ranked just ninth in the league in scoring defense (26.2) and gave up a whopping 34 ppg in their losses. Clemson had some issues stopping the run this year (Auburn, Wofford, Maryland, Georgia Tech and South Carolina all ran for over 200 yards). They also had the knack for giving up the big play as they gave up 9 plays of over 50 yards on the year (which ranked them tenth in the ACC). The big question for Clemson is which team shows up? The one that generally scored at will on their ACC opponents or the one that got smoked by NC State and South Carolina?

West Virginia Mountaineers (9-3 overall, 5-2 in Big East)

Most impressive victory: 41-31 vs Rutgers (Oct. 29)

Worst loss: 49-23 vs Syracuse (Oct. 21)

Notable alumni: Terry Bowden, Tommy Bowden, Stephen Coonts, Major Harris, Jeff Hostetler, Bob Huggins, Don Knotts, Rich Rodriguez, Jerry West

We were very high on West Virginia coming into this season as we were expecting big things for Dana Holgersen. Some pre-season shake-ups moved Holgersen from offensive guru to Head Coach one year quicker then he was ready for and the Mountaineers took a couple of lumps along the way despite having a very solid season and ending up in this BCS Bowl.

When West Virginia has the ball they will throw it around 57% of the time behind QB Geno Smith. Smith had a very good year as he adjusted to the new system and threw for 3978 yards and tossed 25 TDs vs 7 INT. His primary targets were Stedman Bailey (67 rec, 11 TD) and Tavon Austin (89 rec). One of the issues WVU had this year was finding an established RB to give the ball to. Freshman Dustin Garrison ran for 742 yards this season but if you take out his 291 yard outing vs Bowling Green he totaled 45 yards per game.

Jeff Casteel’s defense took a big step back this year. Overall, WVU allowed almost double as many points this year as they did last year (13.5 vs 26.3). The Mountaineers had a fantastic year in 2010 with 45 sacks but came back to earth this year with 28 despite having their top two sack leaders back.  One area of concern for the Mountaineers is their rushing defense as they finished dead last in the Big East in this metric and gave up 19 rushing TDs on the year.

THE PICK:

Kevin: There will be points. But that’s been a theme with two of the other BCS games as Oregon beat Wisky 45-38 and Okie State beat Stanford 41-38. What it comes down to is which team I trust the most (or if you look at it the other way…which team do I trust the least). Clemson has some quality victories this year and they owned Virginia Tech. WVU on the other hand has beat Cincy (after Collaros went down) and beat a decent Rutgers team but hasn’t beaten the quality of opponents that Clemson has. Both of these teams are more than capable of putting on an offensive show or putting on a disappointing show (remember the Syracuse or NC State games?). As a Georgia guy, my gut tells me to go against Clemson but my head is telling me they will win this game.

Clemson 42 West Virginia 27