CLEMSON – The Clemson Tigers come off a bye week and travel down south to take on the Miami Hurricanes. While the Tigers are gaining momentum, it’s the opposite for Miami with back-to-back losses in Mario Cristobal’s second season.

Taking a deeper look into this matchup, it obviously starts with playing on the road. Clemson has only played two road games, and the performances were widely different from each other so it’s hard to gauge how that will impact the game, so let’s look at the numbers.

On the defensive side, it’s almost a deadlock. The one gap comes in the Tigers’ pass defense, where they have a larger edge.

Clemson defense

19.3 points allowed per game

2.74 rushing yards allowed per attempt

104.21 average passer rating allowed

4.16 yards per play allowed

Miami defense

19 points allowed per game

3.09 rushing yards allowed per attempt

119.3 average passer rating allowed

5.07 yards per play allowed

It’s very different on the offensive side, as Miami is scoring at a higher rate and gaining almost 2 more yards per play. This hasn’t translated into a ton of more points for the Hurricanes, but it’s a representation of their consistency. Overall, it’ll be their advantage on offense in Hard Rock Stadium.

Clemson offense

32.2 points per game

4.85 rushing yards per attempt

138.47 passer rating

1,495 passing yards

5.74 yards per play

Miami offense

37.7 points per game

5.41 rushing yards per attempt

170.07 passer rating

1,865 passing yards

7.33 yards per play

Looking at these two teams as a whole with the home-field advantage in mind, it feels like a stalemate that will be decided by who makes the least mistakes. Good news for Clemson is that’s their advantage.

The Tigers hold a +1 turnover margin, heavily pulled down by the start of the season. On the other hand, Miami has a -3, and that’s where Clemson has to hang their hat. If they can turn over the Hurricanes, the Tigers can continue their momentum from two weeks ago and put some pressure on the rest of the ACC.