Postgame Impressions: Clemson 35 - North Texas 10
by DrB on Sep 4, 2010 9:10 PM EDT
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PrintAt least it counts as a W. There were some positives that I'll get to, and I'll leave my harsh criticism until after I watch the tape again for the film review. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do one this week (since it takes hours) but apparently we're still Clemson, and we find a way to look awful even when we win by 25 points.
A bad game played on both sides of the ball, but the most disappointing thing was our defense. I was looking for Steele to scheme differently to stop inside zone runs and he did change some things, but with the tackling and fundamentals so awful you wouldn't be able to tell.
If you noticed, Clemson did not blitz heavily in this game. This was something I questioned at halftime because the changes he made with the Nickel package -- heavy stunting -- were not working whatsoever. They were flying around, but right by the RB and the QB. The stunting made the inside Tackles jump out of their usual lanes, and they didn't get to the new lanes to stop anyone, they'd be caught completely flatfooted when the RB was running into a gap they weren't expecting him to.
Stunts are used to halt particular run plays (an inside stunt may stop an inside trap) and also to create a pass rush when you don't like to blitz. Pitt is a team that uses a lot of stunts, since they blitz infrequently. Vic K stunted quite a bit for the same reason. I don't have a problem with it and we'll need it for Auburn, but it didnt work today.
And if you dont fit your gaps up front, the LB play really looks awful. Hawkins played well against Kentucky but he was out of position quite a bit today. Willard was as well, and neither of them were fitting many gaps. It looked to me at first glance like they were continually dropping back into coverage and not reading KEYS. NOBODY READ THEIR DAMN KEYS TODAY. At least two long plays out of the backfield would've been easily stopped had Malliciah Goodman read his key.
I will wait til I watch it again before I get harsher. We got the sacks and turnovers, but we gave up 460+ yards. 3rd down defense was no better than last year. Steele seemed to have his heart set on Cover 0, and that didn't work. Man/man technique was AWFUL. We switched to more zone in the 2nd half and initially it was better, but if you play zone and don't tackle it sucks.
Overall for the D, tackling. It was fucking pitiful. One long run by Dunbar on a Shovel pass would've been a loss if Willard had made the tackle. Several times our secondary tried to arm tackle, and one time we needed 5 guys to make one tackle? Jesus Christ that pissed me off. DMac can hit our own guys and decleat them, but not make a good hard hit all damn day.
As for the offense, I was glad that Dabo left Parker in until the mid-4th, because his accuracy appeared no better than last season and he needs the work. His final stat line: 9/17, 170, 2-1. Thats the same as last year's stat lines. Early on his throws were well off and behind his receivers, but this appeared to get better as the game progressed.
Andre Ellington - Jamie Harper, outstanding. Harper may make a believer of me with his receiving skills that have been unutilized to date. The WR corps left me with a mild sense of excitement. They won't make tough catches but you can see the athleticism and speed we've got. Dye was a non-factor, and appeared to be in for his blocking. Marquan had taken the slot spot from McNeal, but I didnt notice him except for the PI call. Clear looked good and finally J. Brown got some receptions. I've been telling everyone here that Brown will be good.
But where was Dwayne Allen?
OL - Fair to Good. I know some folks are upset about the line play, and there should've been bigger run lanes at times for sure, but they did a fair job. This is something we'll look at on film.
The playcalling irked me. I said earlier that we should come out and run the ball, because our strength is clearly up front and in the RB corps. We didn't do that today. First play was shotgun. FAIL. We shouldve run the ball 35 times today. There shouldve been more play-action, but the passing game looked discombobulated. We hit alot of big plays but not long sustained drives, which was my biggest complaint last year too. We need to have execution and sustain it, not hit 3 or 4 bombs and play D.
Special Teams thankfully looked good, I thought Gilchrist was good, coverage was OK, and NO MISSED XPs.
Your thoughts?
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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The Good:
- We had 2 backs go over 100 yds, and over 10 ypc with no fumbles. They should have run all over this team, and they did.
- With that kind of rushing, you have to credit the OL for some run blocking. It was not always there, but good enough.
- Kickoffs went into the endzone, no missed XP.
- We won by 25 points
- D had lots of sacks
- Kick returns were good
The Bad:
- Parker continued to balance some good play with some bonehead throws. The INT was just plain stupid. He hit some open guys, thankfully, and he also threw some bad balls. No improvement visible from last season.
- Did we have any pass coverage? There was an INT, but that was a stupid play on their QB. Otherwise, they moved the ball all day in the air. Our best defense was their receivers dropping it.
- Ditto for the run defense. One of the worst teams in the nation should not run it all over you. Yeah, I know their back is good, but come on.
- McDaniel just removed himself from every watch list. He was asleep. No big hits, and a lot of times he was out of position, reaching to make an arm tackle on someone who already ran past him. Subpar performance from a guy you expect to be a star.
- Has Boyd ever thrown a football before? He looked like Rodney Williams passing into the crowd. Good lord I’m glad he is not the starter yet with passes like that.
- No WR stepped up and established himself as “the guy.”
The Ugly:
- Apparently the offseason did nothing for our D in regards to stopping a zone read or draw. No matter how shitty the team, just line up in shotgun with one back, hand it off and you will blow through our defense.
- 3rd down defense? The object is to STOP them on 3rd down.
- Beyond getting the sacks, our defense looked really bad. Do they practice tackling?
- Still I see guys flying in at full speed, running past the ball carrier and then reaching out trying to arm tackle.
It is hard to justify saying that you played badly when you only give up 10 points and won by 25. But we allowed them so much freedom to move the ball that a better team (say, Auburn) would destroy us. I’m hoping we we are holding something back…
I’m glad we won. I would have liked a better performance that made me think maybe some of last season’s problems had been corrected. I expect every opponent to spread the field in the shotgun, and run draws, zone reads, and options/wildcat plays. It worked last season for TCU, and Vagina, and the chickens, and Kentucky. Apparently it will still work.
I hate to complain so much after a 25 point victory. I should be happy. But somehow we won while looking really shaky and imbalanced. That is disconcerting.
Luckily we have PC next week.
I'm hoping
That we were showing a vanilla package without a full complement of blitzes and similarly on offense mostly trying to figure out which receivers worked and which ones didn’t. I also thought Kyle Parker looked really rusty early on but improved as the game went on. Noticed that DeAndre Hopkins got a bunch of targets and caught everything near him except for the one diving catch that he trapped against the ground.
Offensively
I am inclined to think the desire to throw from the outset is because the staff knew the passing game needed work. They probably wanted to get some good work in against the stiffest competition until we play Auburn. PC will prove no competition or chance to test skill levels and improvement.
Really surprised in Harper’s lack of accuracy in the beginning. It improved as the game progressed. This is essentially an entire new receiving corp and consistency will take some time develop. Harper did too much scrambling for my taste. Not sure if it was happy feet or lack of separation though.
Defensively …. WTF??? 83 fucking plays by NT!!!
That was not some gimmick offense like GT runs. Half of D-1 teams use the spread offense and that was best we could do??? NT attacked our LBs all day long with underneath, swings, and misdirections. Over pursuit by the ends. Poor tacking and Steele still got one helluva raise. Hard to see where other teams will will struggle with game planning against our D if NT abused it like that.
Special teams was a nice surprise. When Dawson has all day to punt, he can kick the shit out it. Still no idea if we can make a field goal though.
i actually read that and didn't even realize the error.
maybe he looked to much like cullen harper?
Steele video translation
" I did nothing wrong."
" The players did exactly as they were directed."
“Half of the NT roster will be playing in the NFL someday.”
“Dont. worry. We are going to get it corrected. Just wait and see.”
Then apparently he did not direct them to tackle
In which case he did do something wrong.
Swinney knows the defense tackled poorly and was terrible on 3rd down. So we will see if they can do anything about it.
Perspective from an FSU fan
Steele’s comments are from the Bobby Bowden/Mickey Andrews script from the Lost Decade:
The players didn’t make plays.
The other team was better than we thought.
We know what the problem is, and we’ll get it fixed.
Seems like Steele picked up some gems from his time in Tallahassee.
by PBD on Sep 7, 2010 7:56 PM EDT up reply actions
Very impressed with Harper and Ellington
Not even looking at the numbers I was impressed. Harper ran very hard and finished his runs. And Ellington looks very quick going through the hole.
Very disappointed in how Parker looked though.
And the defense was as frustrating as last year.
I agree with pretty much everything that was said.
The defense could not get off the field, but somehow only gave up 10 points. Then, the offense either hit a big play or went three and out. I really expected us to dominate the line of scrimage on both sides of the ball and put together long sustained drives on offense while getting a lot of 3 and outs on defense. That obviously did not happen, and I feel worse about the team now than I did before we played.
That said, I will take the win and just hope that the team will learn from this game.
There is something in these Hills!
by Tigerplowboy on Sep 5, 2010 9:53 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
I'm glad that we didn't open with Auburn.
I agree with just about everything said above. I too was thinking that Napier was probably going a bit pass-heavy to work out the kinks, see who will perform on gameday, and not show too much to Auburn. I hope. If Steele doesn’t fix the defense, it’s going to be a long season.
I am watching Boise State lay the wood to VT right now.
How many 5 star players does Boise State have on its team? How many top 25 recruiting classes have they had in the last few years? I would not be surprised if their recruiting had picked up a little just because of their recent success, but it is not like they are Florida or Southern Cal. The point is that a team which is probably less talented than Clemson on paper can come out and just dominate VT in a game where VT is probably the home team, and we struggle with North Texas at home. We talk about toughness, but Boise State looks like a tough team, and they do it with under the radar players.
I am glad we are not playing Boise State, and I bet Bama and Florida and all of the other big name teams want no part of them.
There is something in these Hills!
by Tigerplowboy on Sep 6, 2010 9:18 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
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