How good is Clemson’s running game? Let the numbers show you:
• Sophomore running back Travis Etienne leads the ACC in rushing with 761 yards on just 83 carries, an eye-popping average of 9.2 yards per carry.
• Backups Lyn-J Dixon and Adam Choice are averaging 11.0 and 7.9 yards a run respectively, and Tavien Feaster, who had a back-breaking 89-yard touchdown scamper versus the Pack last season, is at 5.1 yards a rush. As a team, CU is averaging 7.0 yards per run.
• Clemson’s 280.8-yards per game rushing average is the best in the country by an offense that does not run a triple option (fourth overall behind Georgia Tech, Army and Navy).
NC State has been pretty good against the run this year, 13th best at the FBS level at 107.4 yards allowed per contest, which is also third in the ACC, but the Pack has not come close to rushing attack like the force of Clemson’s.
And while most attention is deservingly focused on Etienne, as NC State fifth-year senior linebacker Germaine Pratt noted, “They got multiple running backs.”
“We just got to stop the run,” Pratt said. “Like every game, we’re trying to stop the run. That’s our goal, that’s our mindset. That’s our DNA as a defense, we have to stop the run no matter who the running back is.”
Pratt leads the ACC at 9.8 tackles per game. He figures to play an important role in NC State’s effort to slow down the Tigers rushing attack. He missed the game two years ago in Death Valley when the Wolfpack lost in overtime because he was redshirting due to shoulder surgery.
That said, he did have the unpleasant experience of playing in a 41-0 loss at Clemson in 2014.
“I think that was the best team I have seen in college football except for Jameis Winston and that [Florida State] team,” Pratt noted. “It was a great crowd. They have a great crowd out there. It should be a great game.”
With a national broadcast of a game between two undefeated, top-20 teams and an opportunity for NC State to prove its worthy of being in the upper echelon of the ACC, one would expect this to be exactly the type of game Pratt signed up for when he committed to the Pack as a four-star prospect in the 2014 class.
Not necessarily so.
“Every game is a great game for me to come for,” Pratt noted. “It’s an opportunity to play the game I love — football. Doesn’t matter who we play, it’s a great opportunity for me to showcase my talent.”
That opportunity though is bigger than ever against Clemson and its potent rushing attack.
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