CHARLOTTE — Clemson will attempt to earn its 19th ACC Championship and 25th overall conference championship in school history on Saturday, when the Atlantic Division champion Tigers face the Coastal Division champion Virginia Cavaliers.

A Clemson victory will also secure a spot for the Tigers in the College Football Playoff.

Game Information

Where: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte

Records: Clemson 12-0, 8-0 ACC; Virginia 9-3, 6-2 ACC

When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

TV: ESPN (Steve Levy, Brian Griese, Todd McShay and Maria Taylor)

Radio: Clemson Tigers Network (Don Munson, Brad Scott, Rodney Williams, Reggie Merriweather). ESPN Radio (Sean Kelley, Barrett Jones, Ian Fitzsimmons). Satellite radio: Sirius 81, XM 81, Internet 81

Latest Line: Clemson minus-28.5 points

Series History

• OVERALL: Clemson leads series, 38-8-1
• HOME: Clemson leads, 20-3-1
• ROAD: Clemson leads 17-5
• NEUTRAL: 1-0 (Oct. 16, 1971 at Richmond City Stadium)
• LAST MEETING: Nov. 2, 2013 (59-10, W)
• STREAK: Clemson, Won 3

Three story lines

Clemson can become the first team in the conference championship game era to win five consecutive conference championship games. Clemson and Oklahoma can become the first programs since 1971-75 Alabama to win five straight outright conference titles.

Dabo Swinney will attempt to earn his sixth career ACC title this week, which would tie Frank Howard’s school record and match Howard and Duke’s Bill Murray for the second-most in ACC history.

Clemson’s defense leads the nation in opponent pass yards, completions, passer rating, completion pct., yards per attempt and passing TDs. This year, FBS teams have thrown six or more TDs in a single game 19 times. Clemson has allowed only six passing TDs all season.

Virginia’s three players to watch

Bryce Perkins, QB: Perkins is one of three players in the nation, joining Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts and ULM’s Caleb Evans, to pass for 2,900-plus yards and rush for 600-plus yards so far this season. Perkins is No. 1 in the ACC and No. 13 in the nation with 3,636 yards of total offense, which has already broken his own single-season UVA record from 2018 (3,603).

Jordan Mack, LB: The Campbell Trophy finalist, is No. 6 in the ACC with 7.5 sacks and is No. 1 among the league’s linebackers (No. 12 among the nation’s linebackers). Mack also is the ACC’s Jim Tatum Award winner as the league’s top senior football student-athlete.

Joe Reed, WR: Reed is the only player in the nation with 500-receiving yards (561) and 600-kick return yards (743). He is currently No. 1 in the nation with a 34.7 yards per kick return. On deep kicks to inside the five-yard line, Reed has returned 13 kicks for an average of 41.5 yards per return.

Prediction:

Bronco Mendenhall’s teams are always well disciplined and well coached. The Cavaliers will give Clemson a better game than what many expect, but in the end the Tigers’ just have too much talent and speed for Virginia to hang for four quarters.

Score prediction: Clemson 35, Virginia 10

–Clemson and Virginia Athletic Communications contributed to this story

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