Only the orangest team will survive. One orange team will defeat the other orange team to win the Orange Bowl and hoist the trophy bowl loaded with oranges and toss oranges into the sea of orange. Is that too much orange?

The New Year’s Six is upon us, kicking off with the 2022 Capital One Orange Bowl between the No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers (10-2) and the No. 7 Clemson Tigers (11-2). Two teams that had College Football Playoff aspirations for much of the season will still have a chance to finish their season with a NY6 win.

How Tennessee Got Here:

Tennessee was a hot pick to have a breakout year heading into 2022, but few expected the start that Josh Heupel’s team would have. The Vols began the season unranked and climbed into the polls after defeating Ball State in Week 1 and 17th-ranked Pitt in Week 2. The ranked wins kept on coming for the Vols, topping No. 20 Florida, No. 25 LSU, No. 1 Alabama, and No. 19 Kentucky. The win over Alabama was one of the highlights of the 2022 season across college football, as many people began to envision a path for the Volunteers to the College Football Playoff.

Heading into a matchup against No. 3 Georgia, the Volunteers earned their first No. 1 ranking in the AP Top 25 since 1998. But the reigning national champion proved to be too much for the upstart Vols and handed them their first defeat. Despite the loss, a CFP berth was still in sight, especially with Alabama falling twice and looking shaky in some of its wins. But everything fell apart in Columbia, S.C., when the Gamecocks throttled Tennessee 63-38 and Hendon Hooker was lost for the year due to injury. He finished the year with 3,135 passing yards, 32 total touchdowns and just two interceptions.

The Volunteers lead the FBS in total offense and scoring offense, but with Hooker sidelined and Biletnikoff Award winner Jalin Hyatt headed to the draft with standout wideout Cedric Tillman joining him, the Vols offense will look a bit different than the one we’ve seen thrashing defenses all year long.

How Clemson Got Here:

Clemson, coming off a “down” year with 10 wins in 2021, was hoping to avoid consecutive years without a College Football Playoff berth for the first time since the format’s conception. Like the Vols, the Tigers won their first eight games, but not without drama. DJ Uiagalelei looked improved from the year prior at times, including a monster outing in a 2OT marathon victory over Wake Forest, but traces of his inconsistencies still remained. He was benched for freshman Cade Klubnik twice this year, once in a too-close-for-comfort win over Syracuse and the other in the ACC Championship Game win over North Carolina.

Uiagalelei has since transferred to Oregon State, leaving no doubt as to who the quarterback will be for the Orange Bowl. Klubnik’s offensive arsenal aside from RB Will Shipley is still not up to par with Clemson offenses of old, but there was a clear spark with the former five-star prospect on the field. The defense will be without several starters, though, including EDGE Myles Murphy and LB Trenton Simpson.

Players to Watch:

Tennessee:

#15 WR Bru McCoy — USC transfer WR Bru McCoy is next in line behind Hyatt and Tillman. Jimmy Calloway and Jimmy Holiday also entered the transfer portal. The athletic 6-foot-3 wideout has 619 yards and three touchdowns on 48 catches in his first season at Tennessee, and he’s returning to the Vols for another year in 2023. His production has been very up and down due to Hyatt’s dominance, but he is more than capable of leading the wide receiver room against a Clemson secondary that struggled and had some pieces enter the transfer portal.

#58 OT Darnell Wright — Veteran offensive tackle Darnell Wright declared for the NFL draft, but he opted to play in the Orange Bowl. He played 12 games and 829 snaps at right tackle without allowing a sack in 2022, which is impressive given he went up against defensive fronts of Alabama and Georgia. He will face one last test before heading to the Senior Bowl in Clemson’s defense, manned up front by DT Bryan Bresee.

Clemson:

#2 QB Cade Klubnik — All eyes will be on the true freshman in his first career start. When he came into the ACC title game, the Tigers scored on five of their first six drives after two three-and-outs with Uiagalelei. Klubnik is an accurate quarterback with a strong arm and impressive pocket presence. If he puts together a big game, the hype heading into next spring will be immense.

#54 LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr. — Simpson’s opt out is a big loss for the Clemson defense, but the Tigers still have multiple capable starters in their linebacker corps, including Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Barrett Carter. After an impressive freshman year in 2021, Trotter improved in 2022, leading the team with 83 total tackles, 12 TFL, and 6.5 sacks. He also picked off two passes this year, including one for a score.

Score Prediction:

If these two teams were at full strength, the matchup would have been outstanding. Nonetheless, I’m sensing a Cade Klubnik show on the big stage. I think he’s going to prove to his coaches and to the nation that he should’ve been Clemson’s quarterback all year long and shred a subpar defense. Tennessee’s offense, without many important pieces, should still have enough depth to keep pace, but at the end of the day, I’d trust the Clemson defense to get a stop when it matters most. Clemson 31, Tennessee 30.