Herbstreit: Line of Scrimmage, Quarterback Play Will Determine Winner of Clemson-Georgia
Football games generally tend to be won and lost on the line of scrimmage. Win the battles up front, and more often than not, success will follow.
Never are those battles more important than they are in college football. Especially when two powerhouse programs do battle on some of the sport's biggest stages. Such will be the case on Saturday night when No. 3 Clemson and No. 5 Georgia square off in Charlotte in one of the most anticipated college football games of the season.
ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, who will be calling the game from Bank of America Stadium, thinks controlling the line of scrimmage will be one of the biggest keys to the outcome, along with which quarterback can avoid making the big mistake.
"Who wins at the line of scrimmage," Herbstreit said on a Zoom call with the media. "Then which of these two quarterbacks... both are expected to have great years. It's not so much who makes the play, I think it's who avoids the disastrous play. The pick-six, or trying to make something happen week one. Trying to live up to a certain expectation of your position and your name, and you force a ball and it gets intercepted and it costs you. So to me, it's the line of scrimmage and it's the quarterback. Who avoids the disastrous play."
The Bulldogs are coming in with some uncertainty surrounding the health of starting center Warren Ericson, something Herbstreit said will make it that much tougher on Georgia quarterback JT Daniels.
"How about a tough start," Herbstreit said. "I mean you got an offensive line with some injuries, the center, and here comes Clemson. And Clemson's front four is back to being what Clemson's front four normally is. So, that'll be an interesting challenge to me is the line of scrimmage. For Georgia's offensive line against one of the best defensive lines in the country."
Playing such a marquee game in week one comes with its own set of challenges, according to Herbstreit, and the ESPN analyst said whichever team did a better job of preparing during fall camp could very likely determine the outcome.
"Anytime you get two powerhouses together like that, without a game or two to warm up before meeting, who has done a better job in August of hitting each other and going through camp in a very physical way, is probably the team that will come out of here with a win."
Want to join in on the discussion? 100% FREE! Interact with fellow Tiger fans and hear directly from publisher Zach Lentz, deputy editor Brad Senkiw and recruiting analyst Jason Priester on any subject. Click here to become a member of the ALL CLEMSON message board community today!
