By William Qualkinbush.

In this week’s edition of By the Numbers we preview the UNC at Clemson game.

9.67: Tackles for loss per game for the Clemson defense. That average is second-best in the country so far this season, only to TCU’s 10.5 tackles for loss per contest. North Carolina is right in the middle of the country in terms of tackles for loss allowed at 5.7 per game, so Clemson should have some opportunities to pad that particular stat throughout Saturday’s game. Both Vic Beasley and Stephone Anthony rank among the conference leaders in tackles for loss with a combined 10.5 between them.

16.3: Difference in North Carolina’s average points per game in home and away games. Larry Fedora’s high-powered offense has been the focus of concern for the Clemson program this week, but evidence says the Tar Heels are much more potent in the friendly confines of Kenan Stadium than when asked to take the show on the road. Since Fedora arrived in Chapel Hill in 2012, North Carolina has scored 44.1 points per game at home, as opposed to 27.8 points per game away from home. Only once in 12 road and neutral games under Fedora have the Tar Heels reached 40 points: last week in a 70-41 shellacking at the hands of East Carolina.

20: Average margin of victory in home conference games since 2011. Clemson is 11-1 in Memorial Stadium since Chad Morris joined the staff. Even when adding in the lopsided loss to Florida State last year, the Tigers have an average margin of victory of 15.3 points per game. One of those 11 wins was a 21-point victory over North Carolina back in 2011, the final year of Butch Davis’ tenure as head coach.

50: Number of consecutive weeks Clemson was ranked in both the Associated Press and USA Today polls before this week. That tied the longest in school history and was one of the best in the country prior to the loss at Florida State that knocked the Tigers from the rankings. It will be the first time in three seasons the Tigers will take the field as an unranked team, lending credibility to the notion that this week’s tilt could be a letdown, or trap, game for Clemson.

121: National rank in third down defense for North Carolina. The Tar Heels haven’t been able to get anybody off the field all season, allowing the opposition to convert on 23 out of 45 third down plays—a whopping 51.1 percent success rate. Only one Power 5 conference team—South Carolina—has been worse. When UNC defensive coordinator Vic Koenning was at Clemson during the end of the Tommy Bowden era, some of his best defenses were plagued by failures on third down, and history seems to be repeating itself for him in 2014. Last week, East Carolina moved the chains 12 times in 17 attempts, a good sign for Chad Morris’ offense. The Tigers have been fairly average on third down this season, but an opponent like this can turn the tide quickly in that regard.