Preview and Prediction: Clemson at Georgia Tech (Someone Got Demoted)

Clemson will play its lone road contest of the month of October on Saturday, Oct. 17, when the top-ranked Tigers face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Atlanta. Kickoff at Bobby Dodd Stadium is scheduled for noon ET.

The game's setting may call to mind memories of Clemson's most recent visit to Atlanta on Sept. 22, 2018. In that game, true freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence entered in reserve behind starter Kelly Bryant and completed 13-of-18 passes for 176 yards with four touchdowns in a 49-21 victory against Georgia Tech.

Following the impressive performance, Lawrence was named the team's starter moving forward and led the team to 25 consecutive victories as the starting quarterback, including two ACC Championships, two College Football playoff appearances, two National Championship Game berths and the 2018 national title.

This week, Lawrence, the presumptive Heisman favorite who is 29-1 as a starter, will attempt to become the fourth quarterback in school history to win 30 games as a starter, joining Rodney Williams, Tajh Boyd and Deshaun Watson, all three of whom are tied for the school record with 32 each. Saturday's contest offers one matchup of contrasting strengths.

Clemson enters the game tied for second in the country with 18 sacks this season, while Georgia Tech ranks tied for seventh in the nation in sacks allowed (two). Clemson faced a similar challenge a week earlier, as the Tigers faced a Miami squad that had allowed only three sacks through three games and then racked up two sacks in Miami's first seven plays and three sacks in the first 16 minutes of play en route to a five-sack performance in the win.

One of the early storylines of Clemson's 2020 campaign has been the development of weapons in the passing game beyond Clemson's wide receiver corps. Last week, in a game that featured returning All-ACC tight end Brevin Jordan on the other side of the field for Miami, Clemson's tight ends accounted for 96 yards and three touchdowns on five receptions in front of a prime-time national television audience. Meanwhile, Clemson has weaponized Heisman candidate Travis Etienne in the passing game as well.

The senior has already gained 245 receiving yards this season on 17 receptions. Twelve of his receptions this season have resulted in first downs, including all five of his receptions on 3rd-and-7 or longer. Etienne now has 812 career receiving yards and is 188 more receiving yards away from becoming only the 12th player in FBS history to record 4,000 career rushing yards and 1,000 career receiving yards.

What to Watch for:

- Running back Travis Etienne (at least one rushing or receiving touchdown in 39 of his 47 career games) attempting to become the first player in FBS history to score a touchdown in 40 different career games.

- Etienne attempting to record his 20th career 100- yard rushing game to tie NC State's Joe McIntosh and Boston College's AJ Dillon for seventh-most in ACC history. Etienne's 19 100-yard rushing games are already a Clemson record.

- Etienne (4,430) needing 35 rushing yards to move past Florida State's Dalvin Cook (4,464 from 2014-16) for the second-most career rushing yards in ACC history. He is 172 yards shy of matching or 173 yards shy of breaking the ACC career rushing record held by NC State's Ted Brown (4,602 from 1975-78).

- Etienne (60) needing two rushing touchdowns to enter the Top 10 in FBS history in career rushing touchdowns according to official NCAA records. Etienne is within striking distance of No. 10 Donnel Pumphrey (62), No. 9 Ron Dayne (63) and Nos. 7 Anthony Thompson and Cedric Benson (64 each).

- Etienne (67) needing three touchdowns of any kind to become only the seventh FBS player since 1956 to record 70 career touchdowns.

- Etienne (402) chasing Nos. 5 Michael Badgley (403 from 2014-17) and Joey Slye (403 from 2014-17), No. 4 Chandler Catanzaro (404 from 2010-13) and No. 3 Roberto Aguayo (405 from 2013-15) on the ACC's career scoring leaderboard. Etienne is already the only nonkicker in ACC history with 400 career points.

- Etienne (402) needing three points to break Catanzaro's school record of 404 career points from 2010-13.

- Etienne (5,803) needing 26 all-purpose yards to pass Leon Johnson of North Carolina (5,828 from 1993- 96) for second on the ACC's all-time career all-purpose yardage leaderboard.

- Etienne (5,803) needing 197 all-purpose yards to join C.J. Spiller as the only players in ACC history to record 6,000 career all-purpose yards.

- Etienne (4,453) needing 47 combined rushing and passing yards to become the 12th player in school history to record 4,500 career yards of total offense. Every player ahead of him in school annals recorded at least 3,300 passing yards to help reach that figure; Etienne has 23 career passing yards.

- Etienne (67) needing two touchdowns to pass Woodrow Dantzler (68) for fourth on Clemson's all-time leaderboard for career touchdown responsibility. He is already fifth on that list despite not having a passing touchdown to his credit in a category that credits both touchdowns scored and touchdowns thrown.

Predictions:

Zach Lentz (Who was one point off from a perfect prediction last week)

Clemson: 52 Georgia Tech 13

Dabo Swinney was already the first Clemson coach to beat Georgia Tech four consecutive times and will attempt to push that streak to six with a win this year. Clemson had multiple coaches in the two Clemson four-game winning streaks in the series predating the current five-game streak. This week he extends his winning streak to six over the Ramblin' Wreck.

Brad Senkiw: Clemson 48, Georgia Tech 13

The challenge for the Tigers this week is to keep the momentum going on the road and not suffering a letdown. Bobby Dodd Stadium feels like a good place to do that since this program has shaken off poor past experiences there and is looking for a sixth consecutive win in the series. Expect the offense to keep it rolling this week.

Jason Priester: Clemson 45 Georgia Tech 10

Tigers gets their sixth straight over the Yellow Jackets. The offense keeps rolling in Atlanta behind a big day on the ground from Travis Etienne and they get another stingy showing from Brent Venables defense.

Christopher Hall: Clemson 56 Georgia Tech 17

The Yellow Jackets have given up at least 35 points in three of the four games this season. Clemson’s offense has to be feeling good after a dominant performance last week and the Tigers keep it going in Atlanta. This one likely gets out of control by halftime and the Tigers take another step toward Charlotte.

Travis Boland (who picked Miami to upset the Tigers, thus has been relegated to the bottom of the pickers)

Clemson 44 Ga. Tech 13

Let me be the first to admit...I was wrong! I thought Miami would give Clemson a game but right now the Tigers are playing chess while everybody is playing checkers. Clemson is the most complete team in the game and they will once again prove it Saturday.

Everybody else (sorry)