Josh Pate's Clemson Win-Loss Prediction + Big Questions (Late Kick Cut)

Clemson prediction let's just go on record here and now you and I they got a win total of eight and a half we checked FanDuel earlier today the win total for Clemson has dropped to eight and a half now it's heavily Juiced to the over because FanDuel does not land on even numbers so they went from N9 and a half down to 8 and A2 well that means they got to adjust the juice as well but the point being broad Strokes purposes Clemson's wind total at 8 and a half that's pretty low that's very low those are the lowest expectations around there in a while they still got the second best odds to win the ACC but they they playoff odds their odds to win the whole thing they've got the 17th best odds in the country to win the national title that's a far cry from seven or eight years ago more recently than that even so that doesn't mean anything Clemson's overcome odds before can they do it again well what do you think you know I think I know about Clemson defense can still be counted on here portal or no portal they got really good players there that defensive front especially I'm very excited to see them against Georgia's offensive line week one in Atlanta no less the other thing well another thing I think I know about Clemson is they answered the bell at wide receiver they finally got tired of watching a copy paste of the same body type at receiver not be able to get separation not be able to pull away and so TJ Moore and Bryant Wesco are both freshman those are different kind of guys they'll both play this year they're not small they're both six2 or taller but they can move and then they're a little more Twitchy maybe than some of the other guys they've had there a third thing I think is I think the programs backed into a corner a little bit the whole chip on the shoulder thing now in the past that's when Clemson as a program has been at its best they've also had really really good players to be able to take advantage of that in the past Clemson was overlooked but it turned out you shouldn't have overlooked them because they had really good Championship caliber rosters is this a Championship caliber roster remains to be seen but I do think the attitude is that of one whose back is against the corner or into the corner shall we say now big questions here how much does Kade kumnick progress as a quarterback year two under Garrett Riley system they were 98 in explosive play rate last year not good enough by a long stretch um that's not just him the offensive Line's got to be better obviously you got to have receivers step up but the turnover issue was terrible last year too more on that in a second second question is this secondary up to the standard of Clemson I know I said we could count on defense I think I think it's a little bit more questionable on the back end because they lost six of their top eight this is Clemson they backf nicely defensively but still at least maintains my attention when we go through fall Camp the third thing going back to just the turnovers for a second so you look at Clemson last year and they they fail to win double digit games and you think to yourself cuz you watched them and they were turning the ball over a lot you must think oh they had terrible turnover luck they were tied for number one in the country at forcing turnovers they actually took the ball away a lot they they had 28 forced turnovers last year now they turned it over offensively a lot but that could be a good thing or a bad thing if it carries over if your defense takes the ball away a whole lot that's a great thing history says we can't always count on that history says that's a randomized stat even with good defenses and my concern is that Clemson didn't blow many people out last year if they lose that turn over Edge and they're not markedly better as a team this year well then what happens with the win loss that's why that win total is down at 8 and a half a lot of questions like that are valid what's the staff look like at Clemson it is a top two staff in the ACC according to our internal numbers here Dabo still got a top five head coaching grade according to our internal numbers Garrett Riley's coming off his worst year as an offensive coordinator now that could be erased very quickly if they have significant Improvement this year but that's something to watch very closely uh West Goodwin's defensive coordinator grade is still pretty low but also he needs a lot more he needs a lot more mileage before we can really get a good read on that overall it's a good staff it's a good staff it's an imperfect staff but still a pretty good stuff schedule breakdown they got to have a fast start or else you could have a rinse repeat of last year last year they were out of the picture after the first month of the season and this year in the first five weeks they got Georgia they got App State and then they go to Florida State they got NC State as well NC State's the third team on the schedule and they got a week before NC State in fact they've got good buy luck against NC State and Louisville those are two of the better teams in the conference now Louisville Jesse I think they play like six or seven games before they face Clemson who's rested and they got a byee Clemson does before NC State as well uh they go to Virginia Tech look at that game November 9th at Virginia Tech a lot of people in Blacksburg have circled that one all right the best case record scenario for Clemson this year I think there is an 11- one in the cards it would take a lot of improvement it would take them having good injury luck cuz they lack the depth that some of these other teams do because they haven't used the portal they haven't had anybody leave I know what the story is from up there we hadn't had anyone leave Josh what are we supposed to do we supposed to have more than we're allowed to on our roster I'm just saying what I'm saying you don't have the depth that you've had got a lot of players there you don't have the quality Clemson depth that you've had stay healthy and that's okay when the close shootouts have fortuitous turnover over luck and and you go 11- one um if you don't there's a seven and five here and if it's seven and five and that your over under wi total is eight and a half so that's not crazy at seven and five huge questions after the season I got Clemson going nine and three I got in preseason power rated number 19 now the ACC is not Out Of Reach uh but I got I got Florida State solidly ahead of them and I got Miami right there with Clemson in terms of quality of team so nine and three is what I'd have I don't think that's good enough to make the playoff I would not guess they make the playoff with that record [Music]