Week 1 of the college football season wraps up tonight as the Clemson Tigers take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. 

First of all, allow me to apologize to those who tailed my picks for Week 1. I got absolutely crushed, and by my count, I had four picks that lost by the hook. The chances of that happening are so low, but evidently, it is possible—anyway, enough about all that. For the fifth consecutive day, I will be spending my evening watching and betting on some meaningful football, so all is good in life. 

There is only one game tonight, but that will not stop us from giving out the best pick of the night. If you decide to follow our picks, we ask that you do so responsibly. 

*Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook

Clemson:

The Clemson Tigers have many questions surrounding their offense this season, especially at quarterback. After a few solid starts in 2020, D.J. Uiagalelei came into last season as a Heisman favorite, and the Tigers were expected to continue their decade of dominance under Dabo Swinney.

Instead of building on his solid 2020, Uiagalelei took a massive step back last season and was one of, if not the worst, quarterbacks in the Power 5. He averaged only six yards per pass with a 55.4% completion percentage and had only nine touchdown passes to 10 interceptions.

It was so alarming to watch just how badly he regressed last year, and the word during camp was that Clemson is going to have a quick hook on Uiagelelei this season as 5-star quarterback Cade Klubnik is generating a lot of buzz within the program. Swinney has already said you can expect both quarterbacks to get some run this season, no matter how well Uiagelei performs.

Their offensive problems are not just limited to the quarterback room, however. In seasons past, Clemson could rely on a plethora of playmakers like Justyn Ross, Travis Etienne, Tee Higgins, and others, but this season, there is not a lot of excitement in the skill rooms outside of Sophomore running back Will Shiply.

The good news for Clemson is that their defense could rival the 2018 team with nine starters drafted, including five first-rounders. This season, the Tigers will have the best front seven in the country, headlined by Xavier Thomas, Bryan Bresee, K.J. Henry, and Myles Murphy.

Last season, this defense finished inside the top-10 in yards per game, rushing yards per game, points per game, and rushing success rate. They are bringing back the majority of their production from this unit, so expect the defense to be the heartbeat of this team again, even with the departure of Brent Venables.

Georgia Tech: 

I will go ahead and say that losing all your best players from a bad team last season is not a great thing. Many low-level Power-5 schools got gutted through the transfer portal this offseason, but nobody had it worse than Georgia Tech.

Leading rusher Jahmyr Gibbs is now with Alabama, and starting edge rusher, Jared Ivey joined Lane Kiffin's impressive recruiting class at Ole Miss. Not only do they have to find a way to replace all the talent they lost through the portal, but they will be breaking in four new starters on the offensive line, and they lost two of their leading receivers.

While Jeff Sims is back for his third year as the starting quarterback, he has been wildly inconsistent. Sims is a wicked talent who has flashed brilliance throughout his career with his uber-athletism and excellent deep ball. Still, he generates too many turnovers and has not been a very accurate passer in his time with the Yellow Jackets.

Defensively, this team has a lot of significant problems. They finished last season ranked 109th in scoring, 107th in points per play, 115th in total defense, and they had arguably the worst defensive secondary in the country, ranking in the bottom 100 in most passing stats. The good news is that all five starters in the secondary are gone, but the bad news is that they have to replace all five starters in the secondary.

They did retool the secondary through the portal with safety transfers Khari Gee from Notre Dame and Ahmari Harvey from Auburn. However, there is just so much uncertainty around this unit.

Game Pick:

Last season, Georgia Tech was driving down the field with a chance to beat Clemson but couldn't punch it in, and they lost 14-8. That was the first game that made me think that Uiagalelei was just not it.

Uiagalelei will get one more crack at the Yellow Jackets in hopes of saving his job. Although I still think Uiagalelei will be benched at some point this season, and it may happen early, Clemson is just far superior.

The Tigers don't need Uiagalelei to be sharp to win this game. With Georgia Tech's problems on the offensive line and the lack of playmakers, Clemson's front seven should eat this offense alive. This will cause the Jackets to rely on Sims' athleticism to move the chains; whenever that is the case, Georgia Tech usually gets smacked.

Georgia Tech is 4-10 when Sims has 10+ rushes, and they are only scoring 18.8 points per game in those instances. With Clemson's dominance in their front seven, Sims will be running for his life the majority of the game, which, based on the numbers, is not a great thing for the Yellow Jackets.

Still, I am uncomfortable laying the 24 with the Tigers in this one. Instead, I am all over the first half total. Clemson is not an explosive offense, and their defense has a massive advantage against a bad Georgia Tech offense. The total keeps rising, and I locked in the under at 51, but my favorite play is the 1H under of 27.5.

It's simple: Clemson will maul this offensive line, and Uiagalelei and the offense will do just enough to keep Georgia Tech well out of striking range, which might be a single touchdown the way they are at such a massive disadvantage.

Pick: 1H Under 27.5 (-110)

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