Clemson vs. Wake Forest Prediction: Swinney aims for the record book on Homecoming

Clemson hosts Wake Forest and seeks a move to .500 in ACC action.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Oct 06 13:11:03 GMT-04:00 2023

Homecoming. A beautiful day in Death Valley. All of the pageantry of a Clemson home game in October.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney will attempt to tie College Football Hall of Famer Frank Howard as Clemson's all-time winningest head coach when his Tigers host the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Howard, "The Bashful Baron of Barlow Bend," compiled a 165-118-12 record in 30 seasons at Clemson from 1940-69. His final win came against Maryland on Nov. 1, 1969, and his 165 career wins will enter Saturday having stood alone at the top of Clemson's leaderboard for 19,698 days, just shy of 54 years. A victory would pull Swinney even with Howard and give Swinney a 165-41 record.

Howard coached 295 career games at Clemson and won his 165th game in his 292nd career game. Swinney can accomplish the feat in his 206th career game with a win on Saturday. Last week, Swinney earned his 100th regular season conference win, matching Howard's 100 conference wins at Clemson in a career that included membership in both the Southern Conference and the ACC. Swinney earned his 100th ACC regular season win on the exact same day Virginia Tech, a four-time ACC Championship program that had a four-and-a-half season head start on him, earned its 100th ACC regular season win.

RV/RV CLEMSON (3-2, 1-2 ACC) vs. WAKE FOREST (3-1, 0-1 ACC)

WHEN: SATURDAY, OCT. 7, 3:30 P.M. ET
WHERE: MEMORIAL STADIUM (81,500), CLEMSON, S.C.
TELEVISION: ACC Network (Chris Cotter, Mark Herzlich, Sherree Burruss)
RADIO: Clemson Athletic Network (Don Munson, Tim Bourret, Reggie Merriweather)
RADIO: Gridiron Radio Network (Noah Britt, Jon Reynolds, Patrick Johnson)
SATELLITE RADIO: SiriusXM 136 or 193

CLEMSON/WAKE FOREST SERIES HISTORY

OVERALL: Clemson leads series, 70-17-1
HOME: Clemson leads series, 40-7
ROAD: Clemson leads series, 27-10-1
NEUTRAL: Clemson leads series, 3-0
LAST MEETING: Sept. 24, 2022 (51-45, 2OT W)
STREAK: Clemson, Won 14

NOTABLE

*Clemson is in search of its 15th straight win against Wake Forest. Clemson's last loss to the Demon Deacons came on Oct. 9, 2008, a defeat that led to the elevation of Swinney to head coach four days later. Swinney is 14-0 against Wake Forest, and among coaches to start their head coaching careers in 1996 or later, he is the only coach to win his first 14 games against a single FBS opponent, according to Stats Perform.

*The game will be Clemson's only home contest in October, as the Tigers' schedule this season features three-game homestands in both September and November. This October marks Clemson's first time having only one game in a month since both September and November of the COVID-impacted 2020 season and an early-season one-game August in 2019. The last "normal" month to only feature one Clemson home game was October 2018 when Clemson won its only date at Death Valley against NC State, 41-7.

WHAT CLEMSON NEEDS TO DO WHEN WAKE FOREST HAS THE BALL

The Demon Deacons are famous for the slow mesh that allows the quarterback to hold the ball until the last second, reading the defense before deciding whether to hand it off to the running back, keep it, or throw it. It doesn’t always work against Clemson because the Tigers have had dominant defensive lines.

This is a Wake team that has one Power 5 win (Vanderbilt), almost lost to Old Dominion, and lost by two touchdowns to Georgia Tech after giving up eight sacks.

Mitch Griffis has 999 passing yards (249.8 ypg) to lead Wake Forest, completing 59.8% of his passes and collecting nine touchdown passes and six interceptions this season. Demond Claiborne's team-high 311 rushing yards (77.8 per game) have come on 63 carries, with two touchdowns this year.

Jahmal Banks' team-leading 276 receiving yards (69 yards per game) have come on 24 receptions with three touchdowns.

The Deacons turned it over five times against the Yellow Jackets and have ten on the season. If the Tigers get pressure on Griffis and take away the outside threats, it could force Griffis into even more mistakes.

The Tigers faced some challenges in man coverage last week when Syracuse picked on the linebackers. The Tigers went more zone late, and Jeremiah Trotter came up with the interception that helped cement the win.

WHAT CLEMSON NEEDS TO DO WHEN IT HAS THE BALL

This is actually pretty simple. Don’t turn it over, don’t have the catastrophic play, the offense needs to continue to improve, and the defense needs to tackle better.

Cade Klubnik has thrown for 1,239 yards while completing 65.4% of his passes (119-of-182), with 11 touchdowns and two interceptions this year (247.8 yards per game). He's also carried the ball 44 times for 72 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 14.4 yards per game.

He simply needs to get better every week and take advantage of those deep shots when the opportunity arises. The Tigers didn’t take many deep shots during the first part of the season, but Syracuse allowed some 1-on-1 chances last week, and the offense found a rhythm.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN

This just isn’t the better Wake teams of the past. There is no Sam Hartman or AT Perry on offense, and while there are some skill players, I’m not sure the offensive line is good enough to hold up for four quarters.

Clemson steadily pulls away, sending the Homecoming crowd home happy.

FINAL SCORE: CLEMSON 37, WAKE FOREST 13

TigerNet picks

David Hood - TigerNet senior writer - 37-13 Clemson
Mickey Plyler - The Roar 105.5 morning show host - 47-17 Clemson
Nikki Hood - Staff writer - 38-10 Clemson
Brandon Rink - Associate editor - 38-16 Clemson
Tony Crumpton - Associate editor - 42-13 Clemson
Pigskin Prophet - 45-9 Clemson
Ryan Kantor - Contributing Writer - 35-10 Clemson
Ariana Pensy - TigerNet Intern - 35-14 Clemson
Merrell Mann - Photographer - 38-17 Clemson

PREDICTION TRACKER

Game	Actual	David Hood	Plyler	Nikki Hood	Rink	Crumpton	Prophet	Kantor	Pensy	Mann
Duke	28-7 DU	38-20 CU	31-17 CU	45-17 CU	31-16 CU	34-20 CU	37-17 CU	41-17 CU	35-10 CU	35-13 CU	-
CSU	66-17 CU	56-3 CU	56-0 CU	42-10 CU	52-3 CU	45-6 CU	60-13 CU	41-10 CU	21-14 CU	45-3 CU	-
FAU	48-14 CU	38-10 CU	49-14 CU	49-17 CU	42-17 CU	42-10 CU	44-3 CU	41-10 CU	45-14 CU	42-14 CU	-
FSU	31-24 FSU	30-24 FSU	31-30 CU	28-20 FSU	30-28 FSU	28-27 CU	30-27 CU	31-28 FSU	37-34 FSU	29-28 CU	-
SU	31-14 CU	30-20 CU	34-17 CU	35-17 CU	28-23 CU	31-21 CU	34-23 CU	28-17 CU	35-31 CU	28-24 CU	-
Points	-	6	7	4	4	3	5	6	4	3

* Points: 3 pts for best correct prediction of the week (tiebreaker is Clemson score), 2 pts for picking score exactly, 1 pt for picking the correct winner