No. 9 Clemson (8-1, 5-1 ACC) has been off since Oct. 29, when Georgia Tech ruined the Tigers’ national title dreams with a 31-17 win. Clemson, which had scored 115 points in its two previous games, turned it over four times. Tajh Boyd threw for 295 yards, and freshman Sammy Watkins had 10 catches for 159 yards and a touchdown. But starting back Andre Ellington didn't play because of a sprained ankle, and his replacements — freshmen D.J. Howard and Mike Bellamy – each lost a fumble. The Tigers rushed for only 95 yards.

Ellington (ankle) will start this game. Watkins needs 113 yards to break Clemson's single-season receiving yardage program record held by Rod Gardner, who had 1,084 yards in 1999. Watkins needs two touchdowns to surpass C.J. Spiller's freshman program record of 11.

Wake Forest (5-4, 4-2) can still win the Atlantic Division with the upset here and not gagging next week against Maryland – the Deacons would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over Clemson and Florida State with a victory Saturday. However, Wake has lost three of its past four games. Last Saturday it fell 24-17 in a non-conference tilt with Notre Dame. Twice in the second half, Wake Forest had the ball at or inside the Notre Dame 10 while down by a touchdown — and came away with no points. Wake Forest WR Chris Givens is one of the ACC's top gamebreakers, grabbing 58 passes for 985 yards this year. But the Deacs are one of the nation’s worst rushing teams.

Wake Forest hasn’t won in Death Valley since 1998, with Clemson winning each of the past five meetings there by a combined score of 205-73. Last year at Winston-Salem, Clemson won 30-10. Clemson has covered seven of its past eight ACC games. The home team has covered five of the past six in this series.

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