Georgia Tech vs. Clemson 2017 live stream: Time and how to watch online

The Clemson Tigers have had a full 15 days to think about their shocking upset loss at Syracuse. The question now is what have Dabo Swinney and his team cooked up during their bye week -- and can the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets be ready for it? The two teams meet in an ACC showdown Saturday night. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on either ABC or ESPN2, depending on your location (live stream).

The TIgers’ quest to repeat as national champions had been going smoothly until a detour in the Carrier Dome. Clemson, a team that had faced Auburn, Louisville, and Virginia Tech this fall, gave up the most points it had all season while providing the Orange their biggest win of the past decade. Now the Tigers have to prove their defense can respond against a Yellow Jackets team that’s scored 33 points or more in five of their six games.

In the ACC it looks like there are four or five teams that have elevated themselves above the rest of the conference while one has sunk like a rock to the bottom. The other 8 or 9 teams? It’s a cloudy mess and the correct way to rank them is anyone’s guess.

A lot of things are pretty close when we compare the years. Obviously the big difference is points. 10 points is a lot. If you add 10 points to even just the games against BC, Wake, and Syracuse you’d have an undefeated Clemson and pretty much no talk about Clemson’s offense. Even 5 points would probably do that.

One stat that deserves further breakdown is the third-down conversion figure: Wake went 3-for-4 on third downs in the first half and 1-for-7 in the second half. That illustrates the defensive improvement as well as any other figure could.

There is a lot to unpack here. One of the things that does jump out is how the 2016 Clemson offense spent a lot more time throwing the ball in general. There were more attempts per game and this more completions. But the actual completion percentage is slightly down.

The Yellow Jackets are 4-0 against unranked opponents but 0-2 against teams in the top 25. What’s even worse — those two losses have come by a combined two points. While an opening weekend defeat to Tennessee no longer looks good, a 25-24 defeat at surging Miami proves Tech can hang with the best the NCAA has to offer. That’s good — because Clemson just may be the very best team in the country, one loss notwithstanding.

The Tigers need a big win to prove the team that lost to Syracuse was erased during the bye week. That’s bad for the Yellow Jackets. Expect Clemson to get back on track in Death Valley.