Post Game Impressions of 40-37 victory over Miami
by DrB on Oct 25, 2009 2:52 PM EDT
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With the Panthers game this afternoon, I'm not sure I'll be able to do the game review tonight, it'll probably be up tomorrow sometime. I'm wondering whether we should chart any of the performance, as in play-by-play or drive by drive. I would at least like to enjoy the win before I look at the film and critique. I will be pulling out clips.
Just some thoughts...
-We did not play a perfect game in any phase, but still managed to win a big game on the road against a good team. We were a few plays from wins before, and made them yesterday when it counted.
-Kyle Parker had a good day. Miami's defense was not stellar coming in, because of the youth, but they werent bad. He had ALL DAY to throw the football, which was great considering how talented and quick they are up front (even with injuries). He still made some bad mistakes.....the fumble where he held the ball out like an idiot, the throw into double coverage to Allen in the endzone that was picked off, AFTER they called a timeout and assuredly telling him NOT to turn the ball over but throw it away if no one was open.
-The defense allowed 8 plays of 20+ yards. We got some pressure but it wasnt great, I wasnt encouraged with how our DL played against them in passing situations, though I didnt expect to dominate a good team up front like WF or BC. We did not blitz as much as usual. Da'Quan Bowers was essentially bottled up all day. Jenkins was handled well. Thompson and Cumbie were handled for the most part. Sapp made a couple good plays. They managed a very strong running game against us, which I did not expect. I thought their passing game would be more lethal. They had 210 yards from the 3 RBs.Clemson Tigers stats
-Our LB Corps got themselves blocked out of many plays with bad angles and overpursuit. Cooper being out showed in some passing situations, but the running game they put together is just not acceptable. Maye charges in without reading all his keys, so does Conner. The safeties did not do any better in run support.
On the 69 yard TD play in the 2nd half, McDaniel was coming up into the alley on primary run support, and was out of position to help the Corner in deep help.
Thankfully we should not face a stronger running game, although FSU has the potential. Ponder can run must better than Dasher or Dalton as well.
-Pass coverage was OK, it was more matchup zone Cover 2 than usual, which looks like Man/Man to most unless you really pay attention. Its not really softer, but different, and you cant play the same coverage all the time. We forced 3 picks off a good QB. Hankerson was the only one who presented a huge problem repeatedly in coverage it seems. 17-27, 256 yds passing for Harris.
Steele: "You have to mix it up. You have to play split safety. You have to play eight in the box with one in the middle of the field. Some of them we dialed up right. Some of them we dialed up wrong. That's irrelevant. We have to be able to do that. And we did for a lot of plays. There was some good plays out there. There were some bad calls. I mad two bad calls. They did a good job of dialing it up. I thought the passing game up until the deep, deep one was for the large part alright. They maxed protected a lot. We still got to him 2-3 times. We affected him a little. They hit some, but not too many chunk plays.
"They came out with one and it was the worst time to have one because we had the lead at that time. But they hit and it was a game-changer in terms of that moment.
"But our kids, it was amazing on that sideline. They just felt like they were going to win the game. They went out there and did that. The run game was the most frustrating thing. They loaded it up out there and got two tight ends out there. It was nothing we hadn't seen on tape. We miss hit it a little bit, a couple of times. We'll learn from it. Thankfully it didn't cost us."
When asked about what to work on:
"I think without getting too technical, they got into a lot of big people, two tight ends and two backs and did some things. We need to make sure we help out guys lined up a little bit better. And that stuff. We didn't make huge critical errors, but enough that it kind of kept the bleeding going. They were getting in max protection in a huge way. They were not leaving those edges open. They've got eight blockers there now. And seven on other times. To pressure that you are leaving some things very vulnerable."
-I'm happy with the pass blocking, almost ecstatic but for the plays where Parker bootlegs right into a pass rusher, but damn the run blocking was bad. How can these guys give Parker all damn day to throw, and yet generate NO holes to run through? We MUST run the football better.
-The clock management was again an issue.
-The FUCKING PUNT RETURN TEAM almost AGAIN lost us the ball by not getting the hell out of the way when the kick comes down short.
-Playcalling except for one or two calls was pretty good I thought. I'm not "All In" with Napier, but his stock is rising. The gameplan looked like it made sense again. Good use of PA and the TE in the seam.
-Mike Palmer is, i believe, one of the top receiving TEs Clemson has ever had. I was a Keith Jennings fan, but he never got the opportunities Palmer has been. He's got good hands and actually runs clean routes, as opposed to our WRs. Who coaches TEs....and who coaches WRs? Yeah, you know our opinion on the Scotts.
-CJ Spiller spent too much time on the sideline in crucial situations, and sometimes the personnel used on a certain play doesnt fit the play called. Clemson has always had this issue. Reggie Merriweather was taken out against SC, Davis was taken out against Auburn on the goal line, etc. You dont run an I-formation isolation play with Ellington, he's not CJ yet, he hasnt learned to break tackles, just how to make people miss. Harper should be in for those tough yards if you want to spell CJ. Ellington on zone or shotgun runs. I know CJ played his ass off with 310 yards, but 14 carries is not enough.
I imagine his toe is not healed enough yet.
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Post Game Impressions
It is about time we convert a close contest into a win. I saw a lot of bad things going on Saturday, but the most important aspect was the scoreboard, so you have to congratulate the players and staff for going to S Florida and getting a victory over a pretty good Miami team
I was pleased that Clemson did not give up. The team played hard all day, and easily could have given in at several points in the game. Instead, the guys played hard and found a way to pull this one out.
The awareness of Ford at the end of the game was great, and Mike Palmer played outstanding. We absolutely love this guy, as he does everything correctly. You know he is thanking everyone he can that Bowden/Spence got canned and his fate was not the same as Ben Hall’s.
What else can you say about Spiller except that he is put in another unbelievable performance yesterday.
The offensive playcalling is progressing, as Clemson is running plays, then building off these plays and moving the football. Fortunately, the Tigers scored on home runs.
We did not bury Swinney and Co. earlier this season when the offense was struggling, so we obviously will not proclaim this staff as world-beaters. There were quite a few problems that stem from experience.
Fortunately for the Tigers, special teams and defense put two TD’s on the board.
Kyle Parker played well for the most part, but had a few errors that could have been fatal. The fumble (returned for a TD) showed his inexperience. If KP takes the sack, Clemson lives to die another day. (He also needs to protect the football in such situations, there was no reason for him to fumble or have the football hanging out there. Even if he gets the ball off, Clemson would have been—more than likely—charged with an intentional grounding penalty.) The pick in the endzone effectively took 3 points off of the board at a critical point in the contest. We cannot force passes, much less in such important portions of the football game. On the flip-side, Clemson’s inability line up and get push to run the ball really forces the staff to throw the ball in situations like this that could utilize a couple yards up the gut.
Time management at the end of the game was poor. I think Swinney was trying to get the team to spike the ball with around 15-20 sec left and try to save his final time out. By not quickly spiking the ball or immediately using the TO, Clemson lost a shot to the endzone.
Also, on the near eff-up by the punt return team, why was the ball not spotted where it touched the Miami player? I believe the ball was spotted (after review, no less) where the punt came to rest, not where it hit the Miami player. Swinney should have been all over this. Still, the Tigers should not have even been in this position after a “Peter/Clear” call and after making this dumb mistake two weeks in a row.
Still, good win for the Tigers, somehow CU is in the
driver’s seat in the Atlantic after yesterday’s performance.
If Spiller is not in the national conversation for Heisman, then the award is meaningless
And he’s playing through Turf Toe, on of the most painful injuries you can still play through, especially for speed players.
I was equally impressed with the “don’t break, don’t give up” mentality. Several HUGE, potentially back-breaking plays occurred and they would have simply given up in the past several years. If everything didn’t go right for them, they would rarely pull out a win. The euphemisms for this game are endless. It was similar to any Rocky movie, anyone who landed the last blow would win because both were beat up.
I watched the Dabo show Sunday, and I like that he was saying they are far from satisfied, but happy with the win. There’s plenty of work to do. Not least of which is punt return team, and Kyle Parker’s ball security.
Good Summey. Spiller's play was huge.
Best offensive player in CFB in my opinion.
http://cfb-hashmarks.blogspot.com/
From LW
Spent some time breaking down the stats from the Miami game, and also from Clemson’s seven games this season.
— By far the most interesting stat to come out of the huge overtime win over the Hurricanes centered on which players were emphasized offensively on third downs.
For a large stretch of the season, this offense went through C.J. Spiller and Jacoby Ford. That was seen as a weakness, because defenses could theoretically limit the Tigers by devoting their focus to those two guys.
The distribution on third down at Miami presents compelling evidence that the offense is successfully spreading the ball around in key situations — and making defenses pay for paying so much attention to Spiller and Ford.
Clemson faced third or fourth down on 15 occasions at Miami.
The Tigers went away from Spiller and Ford on 12 of those plays.
Here are the details:
Third-and-10: Pass to Xavier Dye, gain of 16
Third-and-6: Pass to Dye, INC
Third-and-49: Run to Andre Ellington, gain of 4
Third-and-7: Pass to Michael Palmer, gain of 18
Third-and-7: Pass to Dwayne Allen, gain of 9
Third-and-2: Pass to Allen, gain of 12
Third-and-7: Pass to Dye, INC
Third-and-6: Throwaway, INC
Third-and-1: Jamie Harper run, gain of 2
Third-and-goal from the 4: Pass to Allen, intercepted
Third-and-1: Harper run, gain of 5
Fourth-and-1: Harper run, gain of 2
Conclusions:
1) Tight ends are becoming go-to guys in the passing game. Those three straight third-down passes to Palmer and Allen produced 39 yards, and all three came on drives in which Clemson produced points.
2) Dye is becoming a more dependable receiver. That’s most clearly evidenced in his snap totals, which have increased dramatically in the past two games (more on that later). It’s also illustrated by his being thrown to on third downs.
3) Harper has become the Tigers’ short-yardage back.
— The last conclusion brings us to an interesting topic.
Spiller is an incredible, electrifying player. He should be a Heisman candidate. That is beyond dispute.
But the Tigers appear to have learned that he’s not their best guy in short yardage.
Spiller is averaging 5.1 yards per carry. That’s a decrease from a 6-yard average his first three years, but it’s still good.
Spiller is most productive on first and second down. He is averaging 5.5 yards per carry on those downs with 15 carries of 10 yards or more on 93 attempts.
On third and fourth down, he is averaging 1 yard a carry on 15 attempts with zero carries of 10 yards or more.
When the Tigers need 1-3 yards on third down, Spiller has carried the ball seven times for 10 yards (1.43 per carry).
Harper, on the other hand, has rushed seven times for 23 yards on third and fourth down.
When the Tigers need 1-3 yards on third down, he has rushed four times for 18 yards (4.5 ypc).
— Looking at the individual snap totals, you get a pretty good sense of how the coaches have felt about certain players as the season has progressed.
Marquan Jones averaged 36.6 snaps per game against Boston College, TCU and Maryland. He has averaged nine snaps in the last two games.
Dye totaled 27 snaps in the first four games. He has averaged 42 snaps in the last three games. In the last two games, he has been on the field for 104 of the offense’s 128 plays.
Harper played 29 snaps in the opener, but then nine against Georgia Tech, 16 against Boston College and seven against TCU. He played 14 snaps against Maryland, 21 against Wake Forest and 24 against Miami.
There doesn’t appear to be much confidence in Brandon Clear and Jaron Brown of late.
Clear played 20 snaps against Middle Tennessee, 39 against Georgia Tech and 17 against Boston College. He has played a total of 17 snaps since, all of them in the blowout win over Wake Forest.
Brown played 21 snaps against Boston College and 26 against TCU, but he dropped two balls and was called for holding in eight snaps against Maryland. He played 13 snaps against Wake and none against Miami.
— Snap totals do not paint a full picture of the increased emphasis on Palmer and Allen.
Palmer played 80 percent of the offensive snaps in the first five games and has played 60 percent of the snaps in the last two (some of that is skewed by the blowout victory over Wake and Palmer’s injury suffered early in the fourth quarter against Miami).
Allen played 41 percent of the offensive snaps in the first five games and has played 43 percent in the last two.
This would seem to refute the notion that the Tigers are relying more on two-tight-end sets of late.
It’s just a case of the tight ends being thrown to more in the passing game.
Through the first four games, Palmer caught seven passes for 58 yards and no touchdowns. In the last three games, he has caught 14 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns.
Through five games, Allen had caught two passes for 17 yards. In the last two games, he’s totaled five catches for 46 yards.
As SteeleTiger noted earlier this week in a really good analysis of pass distribution, Allen was thrown to six times in the first five games with two completions. In the last two games, he’s been thrown to seven times with five completions.
— As noted last week, we’re keeping a record of the Tigers’ game-by-game production on first-down.
Against Miami, Clemson ran 32 first-down plays for a total of 117 yards. That averages out to 3.6 yards per play, which is the lowest figure of the year and short of the Tigers’ goal of at least 4 yards per play.
The numbers were skewed by the 20-yard loss for intentional grounding in the first quarter. Take that away, and the Tigers produced 137 yards on 31 first-down plays for an average of 4.41 yards.
Here’s Clemson’s average first-down production in each game thus far:
Middle Tennessee: 6.4
Georgia Tech: 5.5
Boston College: 4.3
TCU: 5.4
Maryland: 4.8
Wake Forest: 9.1
Miami: 3.6
Offensive coordinator Billy Napier recently said the goal on first down is 4 or more yards 55 percent of the time. The Tigers fell short of that, getting 4 yards or better on 10 of 32 plays (31.2 percent).
Here’s a look at how often the Tigers have gained 4 yards or better on first down this season:
Middle Tennessee: 14 of 27 (51.8%)
Georgia Tech: 8 of 25 (32%)
Boston College: 16 of 31 (51.6%)
TCU: 9 of 27 (33.3%)
Maryland: 15 of 32 (46.8%)
Wake Forest: 13 of 28 (46.4%)
Miami: 10 of 32 (31.2%)
The offense did get some big gains on first down, however. Seven of their first-down plays produced 10 yards or more.
Here’s a game-by-game look at how often the Tigers have gained 10 yards or more on first down:
Middle Tennessee: 6 times in 27 plays (22%)
Georgia Tech: 3 times in 25 plays (12%)
Boston College: 5 times in 31 plays (16%)
TCU: 3 times in 27 plays (11%)
Maryland: 7 times in 32 plays (22%)
Wake Forest: 8 of 28 (29%)
Miami: 7 of 32 (22%)
The Tigers showed good balance on first down, running 17 times and passing 15 times. It continued a trend toward more first-down passes in the last four games.
Here’s their run-pass breakdown on first downs so far:
Middle Tennessee: 21 runs, 6 passes
Georgia Tech: 18 runs, 7 passes
Boston College: 24 runs, 7 passes
TCU: 16 runs, 11 passes
Maryland: 16 runs, 16 passes
Wake Forest: 15 runs, 13 passes
Miami: 17 runs, 15 passes
That’s all for now. Enjoy the game, everyone.
Shakinthesouthland.com-Clemson football analysis
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