Clemson vs Tennessee Capital One Orange Bowl Prediction Game Preview
Clemson vs Tennessee prediction, game preview, odds, how to watch. Capital One Orange Bowl, Friday, December 30
Clemson vs Tennessee Capital One Orange Bowl Prediction Game Preview
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Clemson vs Tennessee How To Watch
Date: Friday, December 30
Game Time: 8:00 ET
Venue: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: Clemson (11-2), Tennessee (10-2)
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Clemson vs Tennessee Capital One Orange Bowl 5 Things To Know
Capital One Orange Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History
– This would’ve been so awesome if everyone was in place in a College Football Playoff game between these two. As is it should be extremely entertaining.
It’s not just the Tennessee had a breakthrough season under head coach Josh Heupel. It’s that it showed just how explosive and fun it’s going to be for a long, long time.
It beat Bama, blew out LSU, and wasn’t totally awful in the loss to Georgia. Losing to South Carolina was bad, losing star QB Hendon Hooker to a knee injury was worse, but getting to the Orange Bowl is still a magnificent way to finish up the season.
There’s no Jalin Hyatt – the nation’s best receiver is getting ready for the NFL – and receiving mate Cedric Tillman is joining him, but the offense should still work and the defense is relatively intact.
– Clemson also gets back a ton of future NFL stars, especially on the offensive front. QB DJ Uiagalelei is gone to Oregon State, and losing pass rusher Myles Murphy and LB Trenton Simpson hurts, but this is QB Cade Klubnik’s offense to run and the next level would love to have the Tiger starting front four on D.
The Tigers would’ve been in the College Football Playoff had they beaten South Carolina – yeah, the CFP would’ve gone with a 12-1 ACC Champion over TCU and/or Ohio State.
Considering they way they buckled against the Gamecocks and got run over by Notre Dame, this – even more than the blowout over North Carolina in the ACC Championship – is the biggest moment for this year’s team. This will define the 2022 season narrative.
– Dabo Swinney is amazing in bowl games. He lost his first two at Clemson – one of them was the 70-33 epic to West Virginia in the 2012 Orange – and has been 10-4 since with two of the losses coming in College Football Playoff National Championships and two others in CFP semifinals.
– Tennessee won four straight bowls before dropping last year’s amazing 47-45 Music City to Purdue. Head coach Josh Heupel is 1-3 in bowl games – he was 1-2 at UCF before last year’s controversial loss with the Vols. The guy knows the Orange Bowl, though. He was the starting quarterback for Oklahoma in the 13-2 2001 BCS Championship win over Florida State.
– The Orange Bowl has been wildly hit-or-miss. It was a dog as a College Football Playoff semifinal last year – a 34-11 Georgia win over Michigan that was over after a few drives.
Going all the way back to 1996, 19 of the last 26 have been decided by double-digits. That’s totally misleading – there were some classics in there – but the bowl deserves something wild. This might be it.
CFN Experts CFP, NY6, Dec 28-Jan 2
Why Clemson Will Win The Capital One Orange Bowl
If you want the Cade Klubnik national breakout party to begin – America’s attention wasn’t exactly on the ACC Championship when the Big Ten title game was going on at the same time – here you go.
DJ Uiagalelei struggled against North Carolina, Swinney made the call right away and put in Klubnik, and …. boom. 20-of-24 for 279 yards and a touchdown in the blowout.
Now he gets the Tennessee secondary.
At some point this year the Vols were going to pay for their problems on defense. Florida’s Anthony Richardson rolled for over 450 yards, Georgia’s Stetson Bennett had an efficient day in a win, and ol’ Bryce Young came up with 455 yards and was a Jahmyr Gibbs drop away from Bama probably winning in Knoxville.
But it was South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler who went totally bonkers with 438 yards and six touchdowns – and, most shockingly for him, no picks – in the 63-38 win.
Now it should be Klubnik’s turn against the fifth-worst pass defense in the country. That, and the ball control aspect to this game should matter.
Clemson doesn’t dominate the clock, but it should have the ball for at close to 35 minutes, mainly because Tennessee doesn’t care a lick about time of possession and was dead last in the nation at it.
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Why Tennessee Will Win The Capital One Orange Bowl
For all the talent and all the NFL star power on the Clemson defense, it wasn’t all that hard to move the ball on this bunch.
Wake Forest did it through the air, Notre Dame did it on the ground, Florida State did it however it wanted to, and Spencer Rattler had himself a day against the Tigers right after he disposed of the Vols.
Oh sure, the superstars up front can get into the backfield and be disruptive, and the overall stats are fine, but for Tennessee it’s going to be about cranking up the running game for over five yards per carry and getting a monster day out of Joe Milton.
The former Michigan quarterback got the start for Josh Heupel last year, but he was quickly replaced by Hendon Hooker. Thrown into a tough spot when Hooker went down, Milton wasn’t bad with a few deep plays in the loss to South Carolina and was just fine in the blowout over Vanderbilt.
The spotlight will be on Klubnik. Milton has the arm and enough experience to be okay, but as long as he can get things moving with his legs along with his arm, and if the running backs can help the cause, the offense will keep moving.
Here’s the problem …
Capital One Orange Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History
NEXT: What’s Going To Happen, Clemson vs Tennessee Prediction, Capital One Orange Bowl History
Clemson vs Tennessee Capital One Orange Bowl, What’s Going To Happen
Tennessee is going to need the running game to rumble, and it won’t.
It couldn’t move against the Georgia defensive front, and lost. It averaged over five yards per pop against South Carolina, but it had to abandon the run to start firing to try keeping up. Those were the two defeats, and lost in the season narrative was how Pitt took an early season battle to overtime.
The Vols were able to get by, but that was their worst running day of the season. Georgia and South Carolina were the other two in the top three. In all three games they failed to get to 160 rushing yards and went over that in the other nine.
Clemson gave up more than 150 yards to Florida State and Notre Dame. That’s it.
The Tiger defensive front will hold up, Klubnik will be great, and overall this will be a fun offensive show as the Friday nightcap on a huge day of bowl games.
Clemson vs Tennessee Capital One Orange Bowl, Prediction, Line
CFN Prediction: Clemson 34, Tennessee 30
Line: Clemson -6, o/u: 63.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2.5
Capital One Orange Bowl Must See Rating (out of 5): 4.5
CFN Experts Dec 20-27 | CFP NY6, Dec 28-Jan 2
Capital One Orange Bowl History
Dec. 31, 2021 Georgia 34, Michigan 11
Jan. 2, 2021 Texas A&M 41, North Carolina 27
Dec. 30, 2019 Florida 36, Virginia 28
Dec. 29, 2018 CFP: Alabama 45, Oklahoma 34
Dec. 30, 2017 Wisconsin 34, Miami 24
Dec. 30, 2016 Florida State 33, Michigan 32
Dec. 31, 2015 CFP: Clemson 37 Oklahoma 17
Dec. 31, 2014 Georgia Tech 49 Mississippi State 34
Jan. 3, 2014 Clemson 40 Ohio State 35
Jan. 1, 2013 Florida State 31 Northern Illinois 10
Jan. 4, 2012 West Virginia 70 Clemson 33
Jan. 3, 2011 Stanford 40 Virginia Tech 12
Jan. 5, 2010 Iowa 24 Georgia Tech 14
Jan. 1, 2009 Virginia Tech 20 Cincinnati 7
Jan. 3, 2008 Kansas 24 Virginia Tech 21
Jan. 2, 2007 Louisville 24 Wake Forest 13
Jan. 2, 2006 Penn State 26 Florida State 23 (3 OT)
Jan. 4, 2005 USC 55 Oklahoma 19
Jan. 1, 2004 Miami 16 Florida State 14
Jan. 2, 2003 USC 38 Iowa 17
Jan. 2, 2002 Florida 56 Maryland 23
Jan. 3, 2001 Oklahoma 13 Florida State 2
Jan. 1, 2000 Michigan 35 Alabama 34 (OT)
Jan. 2, 1999 Florida 31 Syracuse 0
Jan. 2, 1998 Nebraska 42 Tennessee 17
Dec. 31, 1996 Nebraska 41 Virginia Tech 21
Jan. 1, 1996 Florida State 31 Notre Dame 26
Jan. 2, 1995 Nebraska 24 Miami 17
Jan. 1, 1994 Florida State 18 Nebraska 16
Jan. 1, 1993 Florida State 27 Nebraska 14
Jan. 1, 1992 Miami 22 Nebraska 0
Jan. 1, 1991 Colorado 10 Notre Dame 9
Jan. 1, 1990 Notre Dame 21 Colorado 6
Jan. 2, 1989 Miami 23 Nebraska 3
Jan. 1, 1988 Miami 20 Oklahoma 14
Jan. 1, 1987 Oklahoma 42 Arkansas 8
Jan. 1, 1986 Oklahoma 25 Penn State 10
Jan. 1, 1985 Washington 28 Oklahoma 17
Jan. 2, 1984 Miami 31 Nebraska 30
Jan. 1, 1983 Nebraska 21 LSU 20
Jan. 1, 1982 Clemson 22 Nebraska 15
Jan. 1, 1981 Oklahoma 18 Florida State 17
Jan. 1, 1980 Oklahoma 24 Florida State 7
Jan. 1, 1979 Oklahoma 31 Nebraska 24
Jan. 2, 1978 Arkansas 31 Oklahoma 0
Jan. 1, 1977 Ohio State 27 Colorado 10
Jan. 1, 1976 Oklahoma 14 Michigan 6
Jan. 1, 1975 Notre Mae 13 Alabama 11
Jan. 1, 1974 Penn State 16 LSU 9
Jan. 1, 1973 Nebraska 40 Notre Dame 6
Jan. 1, 1972 Nebraska 38 Alabama 6
Jan. 1, 1971 Nebraska 17 LSU 12
Jan. 1, 1970 Penn State 10 Missouri 3
Jan. 1, 1969 Penn State 15 Kansas 14
Jan. 1, 1968 Oklahoma 26 Tennessee 24
Jan. 2, 1967 Florida 27 Georgia Tech 12
Jan. 1, 1966 Alabama 39 Nebraska 28
Jan. 1, 1965 Texas 21 Alabama 17
Jan. 1, 1964 Nebraska 13 Auburn 7
Jan. 1, 1963 Alabama 17 Oklahoma 0
Jan. 1, 1962 LSU 25 Colorado 7
Jan. 2, 1961 Missouri 21 Navy 14
Jan. 1, 1960 Georgia 14 Missouri 0
Jan. 1, 1959 Oklahoma 21 Syracuse 6
Jan. 1, 1958 Oklahoma 48 Duke 21
Jan. 1, 1957 Colorado 27 Clemson 21
Jan. 2, 1956 Oklahoma 20 Maryland 6
Jan. 1, 1955 Duke 34 Nebraska 7
Jan. 1, 1954 Oklahoma 7 Maryland 0
Jan. 1, 1953 Alabama 61 Syracuse 6
Jan. 1, 1952 Georgia Tech 17 Baylor 14
Jan. 1, 1951 Clemson 15 Miami 14
Jan. 2, 1950 Santa Clara 21 Kentucky 13
Jan. 1, 1949 Texas 41 Georgia 28
Jan. 1, 1948 Georgia Tech 20 Kansas 14
Jan. 1, 1947 Rice 8 Tennessee 0
Jan. 1, 1946 Miami 13 Holy Cross (MA) 6
Jan. 1, 1945 Tulsa 26 Georgia Tech 12
Jan. 1, 1944 LSU 19 Texas A&M 14
Jan. 1, 1943 Alabama 37 Boston College 21
Jan. 1, 1942 Georgia 40 TCU 26
Jan. 1, 1941 Mississippi State 14 Georgetown 7
Jan. 1, 1940 Georgia Tech 21 Missouri 7
Jan. 2, 1939 Tennessee 17 Oklahoma 0
Jan. 1, 1938 Auburn 6 Michigan State 0
Jan. 1, 1937 Duquesne 13 Mississippi 12
Jan. 1, 1936 Catholic 20 Mississippi 19
Jan. 1, 1935 Bucknell 26 Miami 0
