Clemson vs. Georgia Predictions: Clemson to start 1-0

The game of the weekend is clearly #3 Clemson and #5 Georgia meeting on a neutral site. It is the ABC Primetime matchup and victory for either side is likely to vault them up to at least #2 in the rankings behind Alabama. Neil Monnery has a look at the contest...

Clemson have had to move on from Trevor Lawrence who is set to start the 2021 season as the starting QB for Jacksonville in the pros. They have quite the ready-made replacement however in former top ten recruit DJ Uiagalelei who started twice last season when Lawrence was out due to Covid.

The second of those two games was at Notre Dame and saw the true freshmen take the Fighting Irish to OT. That was an incredibly tough game for the youngster to be thrown into but 29 of 44 for 439 yards and two scores is quite the feat. If there were any questions about his capability to start and be great then they surely were put to bed that day in South Bend.

JT Daniels is a former USC QB who transferred cross-country and played for Georgia in 2020. Like Uiagalelei, he is a former five-star recruit and once he took over the starting gig in Athens, he reminded everyone why he was once such a highly-heralded recruit coming out of Mater Dei in California.

He completed the season going 80 for 119 for ten scores and two picks. A very impressive showing and he led Georgia to four straight victories to round out the season, including a 24-21 win over a really good Cincinnati team at the Peach Bowl.

One of the biggest problems he (and Georgia) face is George Pickens is out and Erik Gilbert is still away from the team for personal reasons. These two players would undoubtedly be their top receivers and missing them is a big issue.

Spread:

The line has settled down at Georgia+3 and I’m feeling pretty bullish about Clemson heading into the season. I like them to win and cover the three-point handicap.

Straight-up/Moneyline:

Clemson are -160 on the Moneyline and I won’t play it primarily as I’m not a fan of short prices but I do think they win the game.

Over/Under Points Totals:

The o/u number has been set at 52 and I think this is a very good number from the Sportsbooks. In all honesty I don’t have a strong feel either way but I’ll lean the under.