Clemson-Virginia Preview: Battle for Bowl Eligibility

With little to no hope for either Clemson or Virginia to play for the ACC Championship this season, there is not much left to fight for in the last two games of their respective regular seasons.  Or is there?

As a matter of fact, there is a great deal to fight for in the upcoming game on Saturday: bowl eligibility.  The winning team in this ACC face-off hops one of the final two hurdles on its way to bowl eligibility, while the losing team can kiss the postseason goodbye. 

Both teams still have to win their next two games, though, which will be no easy task for either team.  For Virginia, the end of their season is capped off with a trip to the Hokies of Virginia Tech.  As for Clemson, their season ends on their home turf against a scrappy South Carolina team who, up until this past weekend at Florida, boasted the nation's top defense. 

So down to brass tacks: How do these two teams match up? On paper, Clemson has the edge on Virginia in passing and rushing yards per game, as well as scoring per game.  But since when does paper matter in an ACC matchup this season? 

This begs the question, what does this game depend on? For both teams, this game could be decided by turnovers.

For anyone who has seen a Clemson football game this year, turnovers have been a real problem—one that has been difficult, if not impossible, to overcome.  Many teams are good enough to take a turnover with a grain of salt and still come out on top.  Not this Clemson team. 

With a struggling offense and a defense who is constantly backed into a corner, Clemson absolutely must minimize turnovers and capitalize when UVA makes mistakes. 

The same goes for this Virginia squad.  If Clemson gives them a window, UVA must exploit it and slam through it.  Although this season has shown that Clemson is likely to give many chances to defenses, UVA should not take it for granted and waste opportunities. 

Virginia's defensive line could be the Pontiac Game Changing Performers for this game.  If they show up and can get pressure with their front four, then the UVA secondary should have an easy time sitting in coverage for an errant pass. 

However, if Clemson's offensive line gives Cullen Harper the amount of time they gave him during the Duke game this past weekend, then Harper should be able to make good decisions and passes. 

Along the same lines, this Tiger team played as a single unit for the first time all season this past weekend against Duke.  If coach Swinney continues to prepare his team as he has the past couple of weeks, and the team executes as they have been (with the exception of the Florida State game), this team could come out of Charlottesville with a win.