3.3* Play Chick-Fil-A Bowl - #LSU vs. #Clemson

[Pick Bot]

LSU -5.5 3.3* PLAY
LSU comes from the big bad conference of the SEC, while Clemson plays in the unimpressive ACC. Both teams rely on the running game more than the passing game. Which probably shocks some considering Clemson has two dynamic receivers, but it would appear that Clemson does not have the pass protection to fully take advantage of that talent thus they run the ball about 55% of the time. We saw it when LSU faced SEC South Carolina to close out the season as they were man handled by A&M's pass rush which is among the best in the country. Now LSU has a pretty strong pass rush ranked 36th and Sam Montgomery could be the guy to steal the show.

Tajh Boyd had a really good year for Clemson, but the QB struggled against the two SEC teams he faced with a 122 and a 106 QB rating. Now he faces a defense that was better than both Auburn and South Carolina. The thing is it will have to be him to win this game because LSU's run defense is so strong ranked 8th and Andre Ellington has not proven that he can run it against good run stop units as they average less than 3.4 ypc against the three top 20 run defenses they faced this year. On the other side you will have LSU's rushing attack which has a ton of depth and fresh legs grind out this game. Clemson is 67th in run defense allowing 4.3 ypc and hasn't faced a physical rushing attack like this. LSU's offensive line should dominate this game and they'll have plenty of balance with Zach Mettenberger proving down the stretch that he can be an effective QB. He had three solid games before his last one against Arkansas (who has a really good pass defense). His other games against Alabama, Miss State and Miss are nothing to sneeze about and here today he gets to go up against Clemson ranked 82nd vs. the pass. Dabo Sweeney has yet to prove he can win the big game while Les Miles has won 6 of his last 8 bowl games and is usually money with extra time to prepare. Clemson lost 70-33 to a bad West Virginia team a year ago in their bowl and have lost 5 of 6.