Ranked Tigers hope to clinch spot in College Football Playoff with win

“If we beat the No. 1 team in the nation, then I believe this team deserves to be in the College Football Playoff”. That’s just a fact, and one that Dabo Swinney probably understands.

The Tar Heels will likely jump past Ohio State, Notre Dame and Florida State – the three teams directly ahead of the – with a victory over Clemson because they’ll have a conference championship while the other three teams won’t.

“(I) think the biggest thing is they just have not given up near the big plays.

“I don’t know if it erases the cloud”, Fedora said of the 2015 team’s success, “but the sun is shining through the cloud”.

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North Carolina (11-1, 8-0 ACC) is no easy out.

Back in Clemson, the Tigers insisted this week they understand they have to increase their level of play to match the red-hot Tar Heels.

“You just don’t know, until you get hit in the mouth and you have to overcome some adversity, what your team is going to be like”, said UNC head coach Larry Fedora, coach of the first team in the ACC’s Coastal Division to go 8-0 in conference games since Virginia Tech in 2010.

North Carolina hasn’t won the ACC since 1980, one year before the first landmark clash involving the Tar Heels and Clemson.

Swinney said Watson is the “complete package”, comparing him to former New York Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera. He has game-breaking potential and isn’t afraid to use it. For North Carolina, the plan is simple: crowd the box, force Watson to throw, and let him beat you with his arm.

“That’s what makes us hard to defend”, Swinney said. When you go against an offense with so many weapons like North Carolina, they are going to score some points.

“I mean, how many years has it been?” When Williams bombed against SC, the Tar Heels couldn’t overcome their signal caller’s worst performance of the season. “Because for all of the talk about the talk about the North Carolina defense – and from a numbers standpoint they’ve been better this year – but when you look at efficiency, and you look at opposing offenses the defense actually hasn’t been that great”, Smith told TigerNet Thursday. If the Heels can find a way to create some chaos, grab an extra possession or two and maybe a short field, they’ve got a great shot to win. Jimmy Carter was president, there was no I-40 in the Triangle and Dean Smith had yet to win a national title. He will burn the defense if he gets out to the edge.

This will be the first time the two programs have met at a neutral site since 1915 when they faced each other in Greensboro and the Tar Heels won 9-7.

Here are the latest betting information provided by OddsShark on the ACC showdown. Both schools quickly sold out of their 5,500 allotted tickets, but Clemson received 6,000 more to North Carolina’s 2,500. Senior quarterback Marquise Williams spearheads the Tar Heels’ passing attack with over 2,600 yards and 18 touchdowns this season. This is the sort of dream game a city salivates for when it bids for events like the ACC football championship. Receivers Mack Hollins, Quinshad Davis and Ryan Switzer have combined for 1,802 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Clemson has a high powered offense led by quarterback Deshaun Watson.

Kickoff is projected for 8:00 PM ET at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. “It sounds stupid because it’s so obvious, but you can’t lose the turnover battle in a game like this”. “This team, we lost the first game, and so we were written off at that time”. “He’s up for the Heisman, but that’s the big thing we like”.