UGA vs Clemson - Josh Pate's Preview & Prediction

you know Clemson placed Georgia to kick off the season this Saturday in um in basically the grave of the Georgia Dome right on top of the grave of the Georgia Dome you may know it as mercedesbenz Stadium but some of us miss the Georgia Dome it's a noon kickoff oh Georgia is about a two touchdown favorite here 13 and a half Point favorite do you realize we have the number one and number two active head coaches going at it in terms of win percentage do you realize we have three active head coaches who have won now national championships and these are two of them and the other one's MC Brown do you realize that according to the 247 sports team Talent composite this is the number two and number five roster in America and do you realize after all that the folks at FanDuel said yeah about a two touchdown gap between these teams um what happened to Clemson football to Warrant such a point spread well it didn't happen overnight did it Georgia is um this is a paper popper of a stat if Georgia wins Saturday that is their 40th straight regular season win that would be the most since the Oklahoma teams of the mid-50s and we all remember how great those teams were some of you actually do Kade kumnick quarterback at Clemson just in general shaky last year but away from home really shaky at home not terrible six- one 37 points per game last year um points per game is not necessarily a quarterback stat I understand that but broad Strokes purposes they scored 37 per game at home and he was 14 to3 touchdown to interception rate on the road or neutral site three and three win and loss 21.5 points per game five to six touchdown to int suffice it to say a different player and remember it was the Duke game that kicked all this off last year and they turned the ball over Every Which Way imaginable and Mike Elco and Duke beat him and there are few truths in an uncertain world but one of them is the level of competition is going to step up a little bit from duke here all due respect the Duke but it's your two under Garrett Riley you know it's your two with Kate kumnick being the starter here we got Bryant Wesco we got TJ Moore at receiver and I'm not saying that mockingly I expect a lot from those guys it's just that I'm counting on true freshman receivers against George's secondary so not the most favorable matchup in the world there but if Georgia can't get home if that pass rush can't get home maybe maybe just maybe there's an early spark there combined with the whole year 2 Synergy of quarterback and no se maybe it's not a poverty roster you know a lot of people are painting this as a blowout waiting to happen maybe it is but this is still Clemson football guys I just want to remind you still still a pretty prideful program up there that recruits pretty well dabos SNY man you know it used to be not too long ago actually that they used to find themselves in this spot they relished this spot it was called little old Clemson I always thought it was kind of dumb because I I I knew even at the time Clemson doesn't need to be an underdog to much of anyone Dabo 12- one against the spread as a dog of five plus points by the way so he used to find himself in this spot a lot they always covered sometimes they won so uh as for matchups though forget about the past as for the here and now the Georgia offensive line and quarterback situation against Clemson's pass defense is a pretty significant Edge to Georgia a lot of edges to Georgia in this game but Clemson is replacing six of eight on defense especi in the secondary especially and Georgia's deep with weapons there may not be an All-American receiver on this team there may not be an All-American tight end on this team they are deep and talented with guys that can play at a high level collectively it's probably the deepest stable of pass catchers they've had in quite a while I know you think oh they lost Bowers what are they going to do at tight end backfill very effectively with multiple players that's what they're going to do they're going to show you they had guys on the roster last year that would have started anywhere else at that position that's what they're going to do at tight end Georgia also can win running the football you know even if what I just said wasn't true even if they were slightly more one-dimensional they could still win this game running the ball now Clemson folks listen to that and say against our front okay show it well this may be the best offensive line you face all year at Clemson so really good matchup there ug o line Clemson dline really good matchup I just I come back to this every time I watch sabin's Bama back in the day Kirby's Georgia uh don't know that I can put anyone else in that category they are not wobbly when they come out of the gate doesn't mean they're not beatable but they're not wobbly they don't hand games over ever they're always prepared so you got to outplay them and hardly anyone ever does period but out of the gate especially you're always like oh we want to get them early no you just don't want to get them you really just don't want to get them because Georgia also pretty good lately against ranked teams 10 and three against the spread in that category so let's just take a look we see what the FanDuel number is we see George's favor by 13 and a half the model agrees we are right in line we think these are very tight lines for week one Georgia minus 14 is what our model has and and um man I think I think it's probably right I think round two touchdowns is the gap we see here right now I'm taking Georgia to win I'm G to take Clemson to cover I Envision like a 10-point Georgia win in my mind I I look maybe Georgia does to them what they did to Oregon a few years ago that is a still a very talented program at Clemson and I got a hard time with all that pressure built up and the way last season season ended and how much urgency and how much retrospective has been put on that team and how much of a fine- tooth comb has been run through it by that staff picturing them getting run out of the building in week one is one that's not impossible but it's uncomfortable on the backside if it does happen especially with the way last year started and knowing how imperative a fast start is for them this year something tells me those Folks at Clemson will find a way to keep it close something tells me the overall caliber of athlete on that team's probably being disrespected just a little bit still take Georgia to win though [Music]