Rece Davis predicts Clemson will win, cover against North Carolina

No. 20 North Carolina and Clemson will play a rematch of last season’s ACC Championship in Death Valley this weekend. In what should be a quality matchup in the conference, Rece Davis expects it to play out similarly to how that title game did in 2022.

Davis shared his pick for Tar Heels at Tigers during the ‘College GameDay Podcast’ on Thursday. He started by admitting his very regard of UNC QB Drake Maye who, naturally, is a big reason why North Carolina could end up on top in this game.

“There’s still no bigger fan of Drake Maye than I am,” said Davis. “I think he’s a sensational prospect, I think he’s going to be a great pro. I think he’s a tremendous college quarterback.”

Even so, Clemson looks like a far better opponent in mid-November than they did back at the end of October. That shift has come after an eight-point win over a Notre Dame and a 21-point victory over Georgia Tech. They still may not be the Tigers of recent history but, after a certain message from a call-in show, Dabo Swinney and his team now clearly have a fire underneath them.

“Now, Clemson is not what it was. But, since Tyler from Spartanburg? They’ve looked a little more like Clemson – at least closer,” said Davis.

There’s also the current issue of the defense at North Carolina. Over their first five games, they weren’t half bad as they were holding teams to just 19 points per game. Since then, though, they have bled out on that side of the ball as their last four conference opponents have doubled that number to 38.3 points in a 2-2 stretch.

Pair that with a resurgent-enough Clemson at home and that’s all that Davis needed. No matter how big of a fan he is of Maye, he didn’t have enough faith in North Carolina as a whole to take them to win or cover against the Tigers this weekend.

“I just can’t get to a point where I would trust Carolina to win this game or even cover it,” said Davis

“Look, I love the Drake. But I just can’t see how they can get there against Clemson,” Davis said. “I doubt that they protect him well enough. Carolina will probably find some ways – because of him, because of Tez Walker, running game. They’ll find some ways to get some points. But who in the world can trust Carolina to stop anybody from scoring? Ultimately, too much pressure, offense will probably make a mistake – Clemson wins and covers.”