Everything you need to know as the Longhorns and Tigers meet in a first-round playoff showdown on Saturday
USATSI
No. 12 seed Clemson will travel to face No. 5 seed Texas on Saturday for a first-round matchup in the College Football Playoff. The Longhorns (11-2) are the highest-seeded non-conference champion, while the Tigers (10-3) snuck into the playoff as the lowest-ranked team thanks to their ACC championship win over SMU.
Texas carries legitimate national championship hopes entering the playoff. The Longhorns’ only two losses this season have come against Georgia, and they won 10 of their 11 other games this season by 10-plus points. Texas fell to Washington in the College Football Playoff semifinals last season.
Clemson’s path, meanwhile, has been much rockier. The Tigers lost to Georgia in Week 1 and later stumbled against Louisville and South Carolina. This is Clemson’s first playoff appearance since 2020 after appearing six straight seasons from 2015-20.
Texas vs. Clemson: Need To Know
Familiar QB matchup: This isn’t the first time Texas’ Quinn Ewers and Clemson’s Cade Klubnick have faced off in a playoff game. It happened back in January 2021 when Texas powers Westlake High School and Southlake Carroll High School met in the 2021 6A state title game. Back then, the game was far more about the coaches — Westlake’s Todd Dodge (the former coach at North Texas) squared off with his son, Riley, the coach of Southlake Carroll – but there were five-star quarterbacks on both sidelines that day. Klubnik and Westlake got the better of that matchup, winning 52-34.
Westlake would go on to win another state championship the following season, but by that point, Ewers had already skipped his senior season and enrolled early at Ohio State.
Of note: Klubnik will be on the opposite sideline Saturday from his high school teammate, standout Longhorns safety Michael Taaffe.
Who’s carrying the ball for Clemson? The Tigers’ injury situation at running back isn’t particularly promising. Second-string running back Jay Haynes is out for the season with a torn ACL and starter Phil Mafah has been dealing with a shoulder injury that will require offseason surgery, though he will play Saturday. The Tigers were already thin at running back coming into the year, so you could end up seeing a lot of throws from Klubnik on Saturday.
That becomes even more of a concern given Clemson’s pass blocking this season. The Tigers’ offensive line, banged up in the second half of the season, is an at-best average pass blocking unit (70th in pressure rate allowed) going up against one of college football’s top pass rushes and secondaries.
Clemson’s young WRs vs. Texas’ secondary: Antonio Williams is the frontman for Clemson’s wide receiver corps, but true freshmen Bryant Wesco (678 yards) and T.J. Moore (535 yards) are the potential game changers. Wesco averages 17.8 yards per catch and Moore 14.9, by far the two highest totals on the team. Clemson relies on that pair to stretch the field vertically and create explosive plays. They’ll have the toughest test of their young careers Saturday against the nation’s No. 1 pass defense. Opposing offenses average a minuscule 5.1 yards per attempt this season against Texas and a secondary led by Jim Thorpe Award winner Jahdae Barron.
If Texas’ secondary gets the better of that matchup, which they should on paper, it could be a very long day for Clemson’s offense.
Where to watch Texas vs. Clemson live
Date: Saturday, Dec. 21| Time: 4 p.m. ET
Location: Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium – Austin, Texas
TV: TNT | Live stream: fubo (Try for free)
Texas vs. Clemson prediction, picks
This is going to tell us a lot about the gap between Clemson and the true powers of the sport. We got that sort of measuring stick Week 1 against UGA. Is Clemson any different? I don’t like the Tigers’ chances. Texas is flawed itself, but the Longhorns have the best defense in college football. That’s a problem for a Clemson o-line that continues to be banged up. This is close for a while, but Texas manages to pull away late. Pick:Texas -11.5
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