The 2012 Chick-Fil-A Bowl picks are going to be difficult to make, as the LSU Tigers and Clemson Tigers are set to do battle with one another in a SEC vs. ACC battle. Check out our Chick-Fil-A Bowl predictions and the keys to the game for LSU vs. Clemson.

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2012 Chick-Fil-A Bowl: LSU Tigers vs. Clemson Tigers
2012 Chick-Fil-A Bowl Location: Georgia Dome, Atlanta, GA
2012 Chick-Fil-A Bowl Date/Time: Monday, December 31st, 7:30 p.m. (ET)
2012 Chick-Fil-A Bowl Television Coverage: ESPN, Watch ESPN

Key #1: LSU has to figure out how to get over last year’s debacle
The Tigers were the undefeated No. 1 team in the country last year when they laid the biggest egg of the season when they were beaten 21-0 by the Alabama Crimson Tide. Head Coach Les Miles has done remarkably well in bowl games historically, and the team is 11-4 since 1995 in bowl games. Last year’s loss was a blip on the radar, though a big blip at that, knowing that it cost the team a shot at winning the whole enchilada, and it came against an arch rival. This year’s game against Alabama was also lost, and the moniker is starting to build that this team can’t win the biggest of the big games. Though a number of the players on both sides of the ball that are gone from last year’s team, but there are plenty that are still here as well. There has to be a chip on the shoulder of this team, knowing not just that it was beaten last year, but that it was left out of a BCS bowl game this year as well in spite of its 10-2 season.

Chick-Fil-A Bowl Odds at Diamond Sportsbook
LSU Tigers -6
Clemson Tigers +6
Over/Under 59
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Key #2: Tajh Boyd needs to come up big in the big time game
We have already spoken about what LSU has to bring to the table in this one and the chip that it is carrying on its shoulders, but there is probably even more weight on the shoulders of QB Tajh Boyd as well. Boyd had a great senior season, throwing for 3,550 yards and 34 TDs and rushing for 492 yards and nine TDs. However, when you look back at the last three games that he has played against SEC teams, the results haven’t been pretty. In those three games, two of which were lost to the South Carolina Gamecocks and one that was won against the Auburn Tigers, Boyd completed 52.8 percent of his passes for an average of 158.0 yards per game with three touchdowns and four picks. He also had 61 rushing yards and a TD in those games as well. The bottom line for the Clemson quarterback though, is that he only averaged helping his team put up 18.7 points per game in those outings, and that just isn’t good enough at any level. For a man that put up such remarkable stats over the course of his career, it’s shocking that he has really never beaten a big time team. In the last two years, he has two losses to South Carolina, a bad loss to Florida State in which the offense pulled every gimmick out of the books, and a 70-33 loss to the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Orange Bowl. If there is a man that needs a win to validate his career, Boyd is the man.

Key #3: The Bayou Bengals have to be careful with their special teams
It’s not all that often that you say that a punter is the man that might be the difference in a game, but with P Brad Wing, that clearly has to be the case. Wing has been sent home from Hot ‘Lanta, and that takes away one of the best special teams weapons in the entire country. Wing averaged 44.8 yards per punt this year, and he uncorked just a ton of huge bombs. On top of that, he also rarely gets punts returned against him, if reserve P Jamie Keehn can’t do the same, there are going to be some openings for WR Sammy Watkins and WR Adam Humphries, both of which have the ability to be tremendously explosive return men. Even if the defense does the job and the offense gets some points on the board, it could be frightening for the Tigers to have to punt the ball without Wing out there.

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The storylines between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Florida State Seminoles are very, very deep for the final game played in 2010 in the college football betting campaign. These two will lock horns in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl at the Georgia Dome as the losers of the SEC and ACC Championship games respectively. But which team will recover and post a win to finish up the calendar year? We have the three keys to the game for your Chick-Fil-A Bowl picks.

Key #1: Christian Ponder needs to prove that he is healthy and ready to go against a stout defense
These Gamecocks were no joke this year defensively, as they held teams to just 356.5 yards and 22.9 points per game this year. However, if you can beat this team, you have to do so through the air. If your name wasn’t the Auburn Tigers, you only averaged about 70 yards per game on the ground against SC this year, which puts the onus on the FSU passing game. Ponder has missed some games this year due to some various ailments, but right now, he is fighting with a bursa sac injury that cost him the 2010 ACC Championship Game against the Virginia Tech Hokies. The senior has probably cost himself a lot of money in the NFL Draft this year, but he did throw for 20 TDs on the campaign and is absolutely a capable signal caller. Ponder does have some explosive receivers at his disposal as well, though none of his top four targets had even 600 total yards on the season. The ball is spread around to four different targets, led by WR Bert Reed, who had 55 grabs for 589 yards and a pair of scores.

Key #2: Mark Stoops has to find a game plan to get into the face of Stephen Garcia
Florida State Defensive Coordinator Mark Stoops has done a tremendous job this year getting his defense back in the saddle after a horrifying few seasons. This was the second best team in the ACC in terms of sacking the quarterback, and there were some fantastic games that this unit played up front. LB Mister Alexander is always terrorizing QBs, and he’s going to be tabbed with getting in the face of QB Stephen Garcia in this one. Garcia has been prone to throwing picks in his career, as he has 11 for the season in 315 pass attempts. The pressure needs to get into the South Carolina backfield in a hurry to keep the corners from having to guard the entire field against WR Alshon Jeffrey. It’s bad enough that Jeffrey can go and get a jump ball anywhere on the field. But to give him more than just a couple seconds to get open really just isn’t fair. Jeffrey caught 79 passes for 1,387 yards and nine TDs this year, and he is really one of the best ball catchers in the entire country. If FSU can’t stop him, it can’t stop this offense.

Key #3: Marcus Lattimore needs to be a workhorse
The Seminoles still have some problems stopping ground games at times, allowing 126.8 yards per game in 2010. Meanwhile, you won’t find a better freshman back in the game than Carolina’s RB Marcus Lattimore. Lattimore really made a name for himself this year against the Florida Gators, when he carried the ball 40 times for 212 yards and three TDs to help SC win the SEC East. The frosh wasn’t just a runner either. He had 26 catches for 364 yards and two TDs out of the backfield. However, when Garcia needs to get some of the pressure off of his shoulders, he turns around and hands the ball to No. 21. Lattimore had 248 carries this year for 1,198 yards and 17 scores, and he is likely to be the big time scorer on the day for the Gamecocks if they are going to beat the Chick-Fil-A Bowl odds.