QB: #16, Trevor Lawrence (So.; 6-6, 220; ProFootball Focus Season score of 39.4)

#7, Chase Brice (RS-So.; 6-2, 230; 95.4)

RB: #9, Travis Etienne (Jr.; 5-10, 210; 79.1)

#23, Lyn-J Dixon (So.; 5-10, 190; 66.9)

WR: #5, Tee Higgins (Jr.; 6-4, 215; 79.2)

#10, Joseph Ngata (Fr.; 6-3, 215; 60.1)

WR: #8, Justyn Ross (So.; 6-4, 205; 56.8)

#17, Cornell Powell (RS-Jr.; 6, 210; 55.6)

WR: #14, Diondre Overton (RS-Sr.; 6-4, 210; 52.8)

#18, T.J. Chase (RS-Jr.; 6-1, 190; 56.2)

TE: #25, J.C. Chalk (RS-Jr.; 6-3, 255; 58.3)

#80, Luke Price (RS-So.; 6-2, 230; 88.7)

LT: #79, Jackson Carman (So.; 6-5, 345; 80.8)

#71, Jordan McFadden (RS-Fr.; 6-2, 295; 89.1)

LG: #74, John Simpson (Sr.; 6-4, 330; 69.5)

#65, Matt Bockhorst (RS-So.; 6-4, 310; 53.9)

C: #76, Sean Pollard (Sr.; 6-5, 310; 64.8)

#62, Cade Stewart (RS-Jr.; 6-3, 305; 71.8)

RG: #59, Gage Cervenka (RS-Sr.; 6-3, 325; 75.7)

#76, Chandler Reeves (RS-Jr.; 6-6, 290; 64.1)

RT: #73, Tremayne Anchrum (Sr.; 6-2, 315; 93.6)

#72, Blake Vinson (RS-So.; 6-6, 290; 58.3)

DE: #91, Micheal Clemons (Jr.; 6-5, 272; ProFootballFocus season score of 62.3)

#8 DeMarvin Leal (Fr.; 6-4, 290; 70.9) OR #15 Jeremiah Martin (So.; 6-5, 244; 60.9)

DT: #52, Justin Madubuike (RS-Jr.; 6-3, 304; 81.4)

#92, Jayden Peevy (Jr.; 6-6, 298; 82.1)

DT: #5, Bobby Brown (So.; 6-4, 325; 70.3)

#99, Josh Rogers (RS-So.; 6-5, 290; 67)

DE: #3, Tyree Johnson (RS-So.; 6-4, 250; 70.9)

#93, Max Wright (So.; 6-4, 262; 68.2) OR #40 Tyree Wilson (RS-Fr.; 6-6, 260; 76.4)

BUCK: #19, Anthony Hines (RS-So.; 6-3, 226; 57.7)

#32, Andre White (Fr.; 6-3, 225; 52.1)

MIKE: #1, Buddy Johnson (Jr.; 6-2, 228; 65.7)

#12, Braden White (Jr.; 5-11, 224; 63.1) OR #33 Aaron Hansford (RS-Jr.; 6-3, 240; 62.8)

ROVER: #20, Ikenna Okeke (RS-So.; 6-3, 225; n/a)

#24, Chris Russell (Fr.; 6-2, 220; n/a)

NICKEL: #27, Roney Elam (RS-Sr.; 6-2, 195; 80.6)

CB: #10, Myles Jones (Jr.; 6-4, 185; 80.4)

#17 Devin Morris (RS-So.; 6-1, 192; 63.2 )

S: #9, Leon O’Neal (So.; 6-1, 206; 64.5)

#14 Keldrick Carper (Jr.; 6-2, 200; 66.3;) OR #25 Brian Williams (Fr.; 6-1, 218; n/a)

S: #26, Demani Richardson (Fr.; 6-1, 210; 59.5)

#4 Derrick Tucker (Jr.; 6-1, 202; 54.6) OR #11 Larry Pryor (RS-Sr.; 6, 211; 73.2)

CB: #21, Charles Oliver (Sr.; 6-2, 196; 63.9)

#2 Elijah Blades (Jr.-TR; 6-2, 185; 66.1) OR #28 Travon Fuller (Jr.; 6-1, 174; 45.8)

Passing: Lawrence, 13-23 (56.5%), 168 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT

Brice, 5-7 (71.4%), 53 yards, 1 TD

Rushing: Etienne, 12 carries for 205 yards and 3 TD

Dixon, 8 carries, 64 yards, 1 TD

Receiving: Higgins, 4 catches, 98 yards, 1 TD

Ross, 3 catches, 13 yards

11 with 1 catch each

Tackles: Johnson, 7

Elam, 5

Hines and Wilson, 4

Tackles for loss: Johnson and Peevy, 1.5

4 with 1 each

Sacks: Peevy, Wilson, Elam, 1

Inteceptions: Jones, 2

Elam and O’Neal, 1

Passes broken up: Elam, 2

Pryor, 1

Scoring offense: 52 PPG (10th nationally, 1st ACC)

Rushing offense: 411 YPG (3rd, 1st)

Passing offense: 221 YPG (70th, 7th)

Total offense: 632 YPG (6th, 1st)

First downs: 29 (16th, 2nd)

3rd down conversions: 50% (33rd, 2nd)

4th down conversions: 50% (40th, 2nd)

Sacks allowed: 0 (1st, 1st)

Red zone offense: 75% (81st, 7th)

Turnovers lost: 3 (96th, 9th)

Turnover margin: +1 (15th, 2nd)

Time of possession: 32:48 (41st, 6th)

Scoring defense: 7 PPG (12th nationally, 4th SEC)

Rushing yards allowed: 8 YPG (6th, 1st)

Passing yards allowed: 211 (70th, 10th)

Total defense: 219 YPG (21st, 3rd)

3rd down conversion defense: 40%, (73rd, 11th)

4th down conversion defense: 0% (1st)

Red zone defense: 0% (1st)

Sacks: 3 (30th, 4th)

Turnovers forced: 4 (5th, 1st)

Turnover margin: +2 (12th, 1st)

The Tigers run almost exclusively out of the pistol or shotgun and use a lot of run-pass option looks. Their main objective when running to get Etienne going north and south. They are capable of running it outside, but they’d rather get in the guard-tackle gap and go. In some cases, they’ll pull a guard to add an additional lead blocker for Etienne or whoever has the football. Even though they have a big line, they’re more interested in sealing off linemen than blowing them off the ball. Lawrence is a pretty decent runner in his own right, and he’ll pull the ball and keep it when he feels like it. He scored Clemson’s first touchdown of the year doing just that.

Clemson uses three wide receivers almost all the time, and then rotates between either having a tight end/H-back or a fourth receiver on the field. The majority of the time, they want the ball out quickly. They can certainly get the ball deep, with three tall and talented wideouts on the field at once, and most of the time that comes off of play action. When they do go deep, the outside receivers normally run straight go routes, while the slots head to the post.

Clemson has an offense that operates with tempo and runs a lot of zone blocking schemes, but can also be very physical. There’s not much they don’t do well, and it starts with Lawrence and Etienne. Both have proven themselves to be among college football’s elite.

The Aggies probably won’t change a whole lot defensively from what we saw last week. Talent-wise, Texas State isn’t anywhere in the universe of Clemson, but schematically, they’ve got a number of similarities.

The Aggies will run their base 4-2-5, with Roney Elam as the nickel. With the size of Clemson’s receivers, it’s very likely we will see Elijah Blades and Myles Jones on the outside and Charles Oliver as the third corner (fourth if you count Elam at nickel) covering the slot receivers.

The Aggies did a very good job stuffing the run with their front seven last week, and they limited Etienne last year to 44 yards on 8 carries (28 of which came on one run). They’ve got to do the same thing again Saturday. After what Clemson did to Georgia Tech on the ground, A&M will have to stop the run first. That means more Bobby Brown with Justin Madubuike than Jayden Peevy.

Look for the Aggies to use the speed of Buddy Johnson and Anthony Hines as run blitzers, shooting the gaps to make life tough for Etienne. If there’s no immediate lane for him, he hesitates a little and can be brought down. Demani Richardson may also play a lot in the box in this game to add an extra defender in run downs. A&M will likely also play their corners up in these situations in case Lawrence decides to pull the ball and fire off a quick slant.

In passing situations, A&M will have to get exotic with their blitzes. Lawrence is still only a sophomore and could potentially be confused if you bring different looks from different directions. It’s not a coincidence Mike Elko sent Roney Elam on a blitz early against Texas State; he wanted that on the tape to get Lawrence thinking early. If he’s looking for that, he may not be looking for a linebacker, safety or even a boundary corner coming after him.

The Aggies will have two major objectives in this one: slow down Etienne and the running game, then get Lawrence out of his rhythm and thinking a lot. If Clemson is able to operate their offense anywhere close to normal, they’ll put up points at will. If the Aggies disrupt their normal way of operating, then things become very different.