One of the storylines gaining steam as we approach Clemson vs Texas A&M is the potential inclement weather in College Station on Saturday night.
Bad weather is sometimes considered to be somewhat of an equalizer in games. If you are an underdog taking on a top team, you may even prefer a 'minor' torrential downpour.
As of late Thursday night, The Weather Channel is predicting scattered thunderstorms with an 80% chance of rain on Saturday night with light and variable winds. AccuWeather is projecting a 63% chance of precipitation, 60% chance of thunderstorms with about 0.3 inches of rain on Saturday night for about a three hour period.
In our interview with TexAgs Executive Editor, Billy Liucci, he addressed the growing concerns about the potential weather issues.
"There probably isn't a field in the country with as good drainage as Kyle Field. It's as good as you're gonna get. I've seen games here where they've played the entire game in the rain and the field's not effected one bit."
This should be music to Clemson fan's ears. The talent gap between the two programs is wide enough where weather shouldn't play a huge role in the outcome, but when you're playing on the road you don't want your opponent to gain any advantage at all on you.
"If both teams have to lean on the running game more...I actually think that might help out A&M. I always think of weather as kind of an equalizer."
While weather in most places could be that proverbial equalizer, I don't foresee that being the case for Clemson and Texas A&M. While the rain can be irritating as far as ball control goes, the field conditions are what effect the game the most.
If what Liucci said about Kyle Field is accurate and the field conditions don't change much if at all, then Clemson still has the clear advantage in this game.
Another deterrent with bad weather though is the potential for strong winds as well which effects the way the ball travels through the air.
"There won't be a lot of wind which I think tends to effect that stuff more than rain. I've seen those forecasts and they seem like they're changing every few hours or so....when you're trying to predict tropical moisture, until you get to about this point or a little closer, usually they're pretty inaccurate."
As we all know, weather is virtually unpredictable -- regardless of what your weatherman tries to tell you. It could end up being sunny and 90 degrees or it could be a miniature monsoon.
Liucci insinuated that if rain helped either team at all that it would slightly assist the Aggies. But he did mention one thing about it that might fall in favor of the Tigers.
"I'll tell you the advantage for Clemson though. Bad weather diminishes the crowd involvement; no matter what sport you're at."
The Aggies home stadium, Kyle Field, seats roughly 102,000 people but has hosted a record crowd in excess of 110,000 people (vs Ole Miss in 2014). It is the fourth largest stadium in the United States by capacity.
Also known as the '12th Man,' the A&M student section that brings in 38,000 students each game is one of the biggest factors that could work in the Aggies favor. But if the weather is poor on Saturday night, it could diminish the level of intensity and noise that they would bring otherwise.
It is safe to assume though that a game of this magnitude will draw a loud and proud crowd regardless of what the weather is; almost in the same way Clemson did when they hosted Notre Dame back in 2015 as the outer bands of a hurricane swept over Tiger country, unleashing a tremendous amount of rain all day.
That was also a game where College Gameday was hosting their weekly show that is a fan favorite.
Ultimately, the talent gap between the Tigers and Aggies will be the deciding factor and the weather will just be the premise to some side stories in what should be a relatively easy win for Clemson.
The Tigers are currently a 12-point favorite over Texas A&M.
**FULL INTERVIEW with Billy Liucci below
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