By Will Vandervort.

Clemson defensive tackle Grady Jarrett just shook his head when a reporter brought up the events that happened the last time the Tigers’ hooked up with today’s opponent—NC State—in Death Valley.

The two teams combined for 1,351 yards and 110 points as Clemson outlasted the Wolfpack, 62-48, that afternoon on November 17, 2012.

“That was a high scoring game,” said Jarrett, who was a sophomore in that game. “It was firing back-and-forth so we are going to try and not do that again.”

Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd threw for 426 yards and ran for 103, while also being responsible for an ACC record eight touchdowns – five throwing and three rushing. His 529 yards of total offense set a new Clemson record as well that day.

The Tigers gained 754 yards of total offense – the second most in school history.

As Jarrett mentioned, NC State was not too shabby either. Quarterback Mike Glennon—now with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers—completed 29 of 53 passes for 493 yards and four touchdowns. His 493 yards are the second most passing yards allowed by a Clemson team.

“Hopefully, we will have a better performance on defense,” Jarrett said. “That will be the plan.”

That was also the Tigers’ (2-2, 1-1 ACC) plan last week, except they forgot about it in the second half. After holding North Carolina to 136 yards and seven points in the first 30 minutes, UNC raced out to score 28 points and amass 342 total yards in the second half.

“They had three big plays and that is the frustrating thing,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said.

Those big plays were a 41-yard touchdown pass on a tunnel screen, a 67-yard pass on a busted play on third-and-one and then a 75-yard touchdown pass on a jail-break screen. That’s 183 yards on just three plays.

“That’s where we have to grow up and improve,” Swinney said. “It’s consistency. I thought we played much better at Florida State than we did against North Carolina, but we won the game. It’s better to correct those things after a win then to go play well and to get beat.”

Clemson will have to play well against NC State quarterback Jacoby Brissett or it might get beat on Saturday. The Wolfpack signal caller has thrown for 1,005 yards already this season while completing 69.7 percent of his passes. He has gone the last 156 attempts without an interception and has tossed 13 touchdowns.

After his 359-yard and three-touchdown performance against Florida State last week, Brissett ranks second in the ACC in total offense, third in completion percentage and first in touchdowns and total touchdowns.

“His ability to extend plays with his legs, he is a real quality duel-threat quarterback,” Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “He throws a ball against South Florida in the end zone that is a perfect shot, right in the bread basket – 65 yards. He has a huge arm and has success running the football.”

Brissett has allowed the Wolfpack’s offense to very successful in Dave Doeren’s second season at NC State. The ’Pack is second in the ACC in scoring offense and lead the conference in total yards. They are the most balanced team in the conference right now, averaging 231.2 yards a game on the ground and 274.4 through the air.

“That opens up a lot of opportunities in the play-action game,” Venables said. “They do a lot of window dressing and a lot of smoke and mirrors in regards to motions and shifts and exotic formations, tackles eligible, lot of jet sweeps and they use a ton of different personnel groups, more than anyone else we will see all year.

“It’s just a variety of things that you typically don’t see.”

On the flip side, it’s doubtful the Wolfpack have seen anyone like Clemson freshman Deshaun Watson. All he has done is start his career by completing 72.7 percent of his passes for 914 yards, 10 touchdowns and only one interception.

In his first career start, Watson set the bar high with a school-record six touchdown passes and 435 yards.

“Right now, he is throwing the ball really well,” Doeren said.

So for the 80,000 fans that trek to Memorial Stadium today, they could be in for an explosive afternoon where the two offenses and the two quarterbacks maybe give them another show similar to what was witnessed in this same stadium two years ago.

Las Vegas has set the over-and-under for this game at 68 points – that might be a little too generous.