Alabama vs. Clemson Free NCAAF Predictions

08-30-2008, 04:52 PM

Alabama vs. Clemson Free NCAAF Predictions

Steve Janus - NCAA-F | Aug 30
Alabama vs. Clemson

One of the most anticipated games in the opening week of College Football, the Clemson Tigers host the Alabama Crimson Tide in an early statement game for both squads. Clemson has a reputation for failing to meet expectations, a label that Tommy Bowden and his Tigers surely want to shake. Alabama has faced some up and down seasons in recent years. The Tide and their faithful are ready to bring Bama back to their glory-days as one of the most feared teams in football. They've started to put some of the pieces together, but I don't think they are ready to make an drastic improvements just yet.

The Clemson offense will be one to watch this year, they posted an impressive 403 yards per game of total offense last year and they have all of the major pieces back in place to have another impressive statistical season. Starting QB and ACC preseason player of the year, Cullen Harper is back for his senior year and looking to improve upon a 2007 season in which he threw for nearly 3,000 yeards and 27 TDs. The Tigers have very talented receivers and two running backs that could both be starters for almost any team in the nation. It will be fun to watch how Bowden utilizes all of his tools throughout this game and the season overall.

Seven starters return to a defense that, while overshadowed by a phenomenal offense, was rock-solid last year. The only real weakness on the defense could be the D-line, which has been hit with a few key injuries. The secondary, however, will compete to be one of the best in the entire nation with four excellent returning starters.

Alabama never really found a groove on offense last season, one of the big reasons why they managed just a 7-6 record. There aren't a lot of stars on this Alabama offense. Wide receiver Julio Jones has been touted as a future impact player, but he's still a year or two away from reaching that potential. Senior QB, John Parker Wilson is servicable, but is very inconsistent. He did throw for over 2,800 yards last year, but those numbers were inflated by the number of attempts he had to throw to reach that mark, shown by his unimpressive 55 percent completion rate in 2007.

The Tide's defense looks to improve on last season's performance, but may find it difficult with injuries to some of their better players. They do return 6 players on this side of the ball, which indicates that they could see some slight improvement over last year's numbers, but don't expect them to be significantly better this season.

There just isn't a match up in this game that works in Alabama's favor. Clemson has a great secondary, so the Tide will have trouble throwing the ball, but Clemson's offense is so much better than Alabama's defense that Alabama is going to be forced to throw the ball more than they might want to. It's a vicious circle and it's exactly what Clemson will be counting on all season long in their quest for a BCS birth.