Three ways Clemson can exploit NC State on the road
By: Cameron Burnett October 27, 2023

CLEMSON – The Clemson Tigers travel up a state to take on the NC State Wolfpack, and it’s an opportunity to set things straight and find confidence.

Clemson might not have much to play for at this state of the season, but the Tigers can exploit the Wolfpack in many ways. Here’s three statistics that show how Clemson can handle business in Carter-Finley Stadium.

NC State: 25.4 points per game

The bread and butter for the Tigers in 2023 has been their defense and that should be how Clemson sets the tone against NC State. Their offense has scored over 30 points just twice on the season and Duke limited them to three points in their last game.

In other words, Wes Goodwin should have a field day. Similar to the Tigers, the Wolfpack are reliant on their defense so getting the upper hand on that side of the ball can decide the game very early.

Wolfpack QB’s: 9:10 TD/INT ratio

It’s been a revolving door for NC State at quarterback. After high hopes for Brennan Armstrong to open the year, they turned their focus to MJ Morris but are still yet to really find rhythm in the passing game.

If Clemson can get out to an early lead, the turnover bug for the Wolfpack quarterbacks can be their undoing. That’s the case regardless of who takes the field. You can see the trend here: take control of the game’s tempo, and make NC State make mistakes.

Wolfpack: 12 takeaways through seven games

How do you help a struggling offense? Give them short fields and the Wolfpack have done a good job of that. Coming into this game, NC State’s game plan must be to exploit the Tigers’ 13 turnovers.

Both teams turn the ball over at an alarming rate, so it’s a matter of if Clemson can stay out of their own way. We haven’t seen that much in 2023, and a road game always presents extra challenges in that regard.

The Tigers have to keep Saturday from becoming chaotic, because this season has shown Clemson tends to lose control of the game once it goes a little sideways. Control the pace, limit the turnovers and the Tigers can leave Raleigh with a victory.