ESPN College Football

Tonight's Clemson-NC State game is in many ways a must-win for both teams. Clemson is currently 2-1 in the ACC and with a win tonight has a great chance to get to eight wins and a solid bowl game, while NC State is 1-2 in league play and has to get a win over the Tigers to make the rest of its season interesting.

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Clemson has come a long way since suffering a 30-0 whipping at the hands of Georgia in the season opener. The Wolfpack, on the other hand, needs to regain some credibility after being hit by the injury bug and falling from a high preseason ranking.

I know the Red Sox and Yankees are playing Game 7 tonight, but flip over to ESPN if you like to see lots of scoring and lots of big plays.

When Clemson has the ball...
Sophomore quarterback Charlie Whitehurst has been a terrific story for Clemson this season. He made five starts last year as a redshirt freshman and is completing 63 percent of his passes this year, thanks in large part to a combination of a great arm and nice touch.

The Tigers rededicated themselves to toughness this year, focusing in spring and fall practice on a more physical running game out of the I formation. They tried it out against Georgia and got blown out, but shortly thereafter Clemson went back to the no-huddle, spread offense and sprinkled the I when necessary.

Kyle Browning, Duane Coleman and Yousef Kelly will share the carries at tailback. Browning has the quickness, Coleman the speed and Kelly the power, and Clemson will use all three to keep the NC State defense honest because the pass is really the Tigers' bread and butter.

Whitehurst will look for big wideouts Derrick Hamilton and Kevin Youngblood against the Wolfpack's smaller corners on the outside. Hamilton goes 6-4 and Youngblood is 6-5, so look for the Tigers to try and take advantage of the size mismatch against NC State's A.J. Davis (5-10) and Greg Golden (5-11).

The Wolfpack is known for pressing, in-your-face man coverage, but in order to play that kind of defense there must be pressure on the quarterback or he will pick apart the one-on-one coverage. That's where NC State has a problem, though, because three freshman start on the defensive line. I would not be surprised to see the Pack in more zone than usual tonight.

NC State sprung a new defensive look on Clemson last year and ended up with a 38-6 win, so we might see some kind of odd, cover-2 look from the Pack tonight. Tigers offensive coordinator Brad Scott will have two packages ready, though, one for man coverage and one for zone.

Still, no matter what defense NC State is in it might have problems. The Pack currently ranks 116th in the nation against the pass and has given up 27 plays over 20 yards because of confusion sometimes created by the youth on defense.

When NC State has the ball...

When people think of NC State they think of senior quarterback and four-year starter Philip Rivers. He holds or will hold ever major passing record for the Wolfpack, and this season he is completing 72 percent of his passes. If I had to pick one college quarterback to win a game for me this year I would go with Rivers, whose leadership and intelligence separate him from the rest.

What has hurt him this year is youth and injuries along the offensive line. Senior offensive tackle Chris Colmer is out for the season, and just as the group was starting to gain some continuity junior Ricky Fowler had to have his knee scoped. Senior Sean Locklear will be the only starter who had any game experience last season.

Add to that the fact that running back T.A. McLendon has been banged up all year and the running game has been in rough shape. When McLendon is healthy has outstanding speed, power and hands -- maybe the best on the team -- and the Wolfpack tries to get him the ball as much as possible. He is at about 95 percent right now and NC State will get as much as possible out of him tonight.

McLendon and his teammates will be facing a Clemson defense that is much-improved in defensive coordinator John Lovett's second year. The players seem more comfortable and are playing with more purpose this season, and one has to believe the Tigers will try to use their athletic ability at linebacker to control the tempo.

Leroy Hill already has five sacks this season and leads the team in tackles, while John Leak is the second-leading tackler on the team and will be focused on stopping McLendon. As for the rest of the defense, Clemson will try to disrupt the timing of Rivers and his receivers by mixing up press coverage and zone looks to keep them guessing.

NC State likes to get Rivers into a rhythm and establish a tempo early with easy passes to Jerricho Cotchery and the other wideouts. The offense seems to click better when things get off to a quick start, so look for the Wolfpack to attempt some simple throws outside and to McLendon to get the ball rolling.

Kirk Herbstreit is an analyst for ESPN College GameDay and a regular contributor to ESPN.com during the college football season.