Clemson vs FSU: Offensive Film Review

First off let's just go ahead and say what we all know, that we had too many missed chances. Ok. That's it. No more talking about it. Secondly, I would like to apologize for the tardiness of this post, I have been super busy in my real life and after getting home at 8 PM every night, I really didn't want to rewatch this film. That being said I have managed to do so without murdering my liver so let's get to it.

Shorthand to know:

PA- Play action, JS-Jet sweep, TrO- Triple option, Extro- Extended triple option, RO- Read option, ZR- Zone read, OZ- Outside zone, IZ- Inside zone, QS- Quick screen

Ok, let's go through the wormhole one last time.

1st Drive

Cole Stoudt pass incomplete, free rusher in his face due to blitz....QS to Charon Peake, Jordan Leggett actually has on ok block......JS to C.J. Davidson, J.J. McCoullough fails to climb and seal the OLB....Punt

2nd Drive

Stoudt on QB power for 14 yards but David Beasley got whipped, good seal at RT by Kalon Davis, gain of 14......JS to Artavis Scott, Peake and Leggett have good blocks on the play, 32 yard gain......QB Power for 5 by Stoudt.....Davidson dive for 2 yards, Norton got beat backwards....3rd down, rollout to Leggett, pressure in Cole's face but all you have to do is lob it and it's 6.....you all know what happens next.....

3rd Drive

ZR by Stoudt, based on DE should have given off as end sat but the right side got whipped so play was doomed no matter what....Dive by Wayne Gallman, Isaiah Battle just watching and Jay Guillermo got beat....TIMEOUT.......QB power on 3rd down, Guillermo buried his head and doesn't come off double to climb to the LB.....punt....

4th Drive

Begin the Deshaun Watson party!!! JS to Gallman, nowhere to go....JS to Davidson, Germone Hopper doesn't sustain block.....PA, Watson sacked by Battle's man but this is a coverage sack, offsetting personal fouls keep the drive alive......3rd and long, rollout draw by Davidson for the 1st, good kick to make initial seam by Kalon and Joe Gore.....PA, Kalon Davis misses his block but Watson drills it to Mike Williams.....QS to Adam Humphries, Watson double clutches the pass and allows the ILB to arrive and make play.....Watson drills is again to G-Hop who does a nice sit down in the zone D, great pocket O-line.....Pass over Peake's head on the seam route....ZR, Watson pulls and keeps for 5 yards, gets drilled at the end of the play.....PA and nobody is open again, Watson throws it away.....HOLY S#!% A FIELD GOAL.....3-3, ALL TIED UP

5TH DRIVE

Adam Choice dive, Norton with zero push.....Choice inside zone, Reid Webster and Kalon cannot block Eddie Goldman on a double team......Watson scrambles, keeps his eyes up and fires a bullet to Humphries on the move, Kalon beat in the twist stunt at RT but on the play Reid Webster murdered a guy, gotta love it.....Dive by Davidson for 5 yards.....IZ by Davidson, McCollough and Kalon have nice pulls on the play.....Dive by Davidson, Norton and Webster beat....PA to McCollough coming across the formation, pressure in Watson's face but was a bullet from close range, bad decision, just throw it away because it was almost picked.....Deep pass to Humphries incomplete, D.J. Howard with a great blitz pick up....punt.....

6th Drive

ZR, Watson should've given the ball off......nice back shoulder throw to G-Hop off of play action, big gain.....Davidson dive for 3 yards, he missed a hole to the left of the center....Boot run by Watson, Norton can't sustain block.....PA boot pass to Leggett to the 1 on 3rd down......Dive by Howard for 6, high snap on the play by Norton here, forshadowing......10-3 Tigers

7th Drive

OZ by Gallman......IZ by Gallman, McCollough gets knocked into Kalon pulling by stunting DE, kills the play....Rollout pass, no one open....punt....

8th Drive

Rollout draw to Davidson to end the half.....

9th Drive

JS to Scott for 1 yard....89 needs to take the edge man now as the edge guys seeing this motion are flying up field, why can't we screen or hit the middle on a pass off this aggression?......89 sits nicely into the flats of the zone, 1st down....Veer run, McCollough misses block, loss of 2 for Watson....Pass play, Watson almost gets sacked by Goldman as David Beasley gave up on the block, gain of 9.....RO screen throwback to McCollough, Battle whiffs and Beasley doesn't care enough to block anyone....punt....

10th Drive

OZ by Choice, no push anywhere.....QB Draw, Choice has a great block on ILB.....Swing pass to Choice on 3rd, 1st down, he didn't run fast but was "patient" and was tough to get down.....Check down pass to Choice for 5 yards...wheel route to Choice, Beasley almost gets Watson killed.....Extro, Watson keeps for 1....IZ by Davidson, Webster and Beasley have good blocks on the play....Davidson dive for the 1st down...wheel to Stanton Seckinger to the 1, beautiful pass.....Davidson dives, close to being a TD, in my opinion not enough to overturn it but I am a cynical Clemson fan....Norton whipped by Goldman as Goldman jumps offsides, maybe gets him anxious to fire off?.....The high snap......Watson barely falls on it, also looked like Watson barely got his head turned in time to see the snap fire over his head....Rollout draw, Gore misses 2 opportunities to block and is found standing around.....another missed FG......

11th Drive

QS to Peake, horsecollar tackle on the play.....Bucksweep to Gallman for 2 yards, McCollough get's blown back and Webster and Beasley don't touch anyone on their pulls....Beautiful pocket on 2nd down, great throw to Williams and amazing concentration to bring it in....QB power by Watson for 6....17-10 Tigers

12th Drive

Choice 4 yard dive, Norton stinks it up.....OZ by Choice, Seckinger makes it his turn to suck at blocking.....Pass incomplete as Battle's man beats him inside and creates pressure....punt....

13th Drive

JS to Gallman, the combination of Seckinger, Gore and McCollough don't touch the end (who at this point is just flying to the outside on this play), I put this on Gore and the coaches.....PA to Peake, nice shoestring grab....ZR, pull by Watson, McCollough misses the end......Incomplete pass to Williams.....3rd down, blitz, pass too high for Gallman leaking out of the backfield....punt....

14th Drive

Watson runs on 1st down, Battle washes Goldman all the way to the center, nice......Dive by Davidson, fumble, damn. Just a good rip by Goldman as there was a lane there and he fought block and reached out an arm and made a great play because Beasley had him engaged....WHY

15th Drive

The start of overtime....Under center, PA, everyone covered but good pass pro, Watson makes dicey throw away....Watson sacked for a loss of 4, good pass pro but Watson stepped into it but Norton and Webster could have sustained better.....Screen to Choice, rumbles for 13, Norton and Webster get just enough on guys downfield.....4th and 1, dive by Choice off of JS motion, Kalon blown back, Battle on the ground and McCollough turned around, game over.

Final thoughts: We did not vary out of our jet sweep package to take advantage of their aggression to stop it and the one time we do somewhat vary, it's on 4th and 1 and we got straight at the teeth of this D. Not smart. And I am not mad we are in shotgun there (even after the snap), I am more upset with the play call. Give Watson some options. Hell, let him throw it on play action, they showed early on in short yardage they expect us to run inside as we had guys open on play action in the flats. Just a bad call IMO, but like the Dude said, "That's just like, your opinion man". All in all if you had said we lose by 6 I may have taken it but not like this.....anyways let's learn from this and move on, November draws ever closer.....

Player Grades

Yall know the drill. All American (9.5-10), All-ACC (8-9.4), Solid (6-7.9), Average (4-5.9), and Hot Seat (0-3.9).

All American

No one here again, once again, it will be very rare that a player will make this level.

All-ACC

Deshaun Watson (8.2)- This guy won't become special, he already is special. What a game he played, with all the pressure and he didn't flinch. Only 2 bad plays on the night and they still didn't even cost us in a turnover. The future is now.

Solid

Mike WIlliams (7.9)- He made a nice catch to get us in scoring position and had another big gain, FSU concentrated on keeping the ball away from him and he still had 72 yards.

Charon Peake (7.4)- Had a nice catch across the middle and contributed in blocking all night. Granted you can tell he's not at full speed but he played well when he was given chances and still blocked when he was asked to.

Kalon Davis (7.2)- He had a couple of bad plays and sadly they were when we had crucial moments. Still our best offensive lineman, by far.

Germone Hopper (7.0)- He played well and had good sense of sitting in the zone. Had a few good blocks as well but can still use improvement. I am encouraged.

Adam Choice (7.0)- I listed him here for 2 reasons. One is his ability in the passing game. Two was his blocking when he was asked to. Was by no means a dazzling runner but no one was this night on either side.

Average

Artavis Scott (6.8)- Had a big gainer and continues to show his ability to provide a spark, but had a penalty which was fortunately offsetting. Must play with a cooler head but I do love intensity too. Whaddup double edge swords.

Adam Humphries (6.7)- Blocked well, didn't drop punts and didn't drop passes.

Cole Stoudt (5.2)- He wants that pass back. He didn't play poorly, Watson is just that good.

Reid Webster (5.0)- Had some more Jeckyll and Hyde moments, but continues to show a mean streak.

D.J. Howard (4.8)- Had a short TD and blocked well in pass pro. His role diminishes but hopefully he will continue to provide us with solid backfield blocking.

Joe Gore (4.0)- Holy cow. He's made it out of the hot seat. He didn't get whipped like the UGA game and really only had 1 or 2 plays you could say he missed an assignment, but I can also chalk that up to coaching and adjustment. Keep coming Joe

Wayne Gallman (4.0)- I won't put his bad stat line on him, the line and tight ends did him few favors running it.

Jordan Leggett (4.0)- Blocked the best he has by far all year and was reliable catching in his opportunities. Can he do better? Definitely. Baby steps people.

Jay Guillermo (4.0)- From what I saw I liked. There was a couple of times he buried his head but maybe a little higher due to his comparison to another guy who played center this night....

Hot Seat

Isaiah Battle (3.9)- Really same as Gore. Had 2 bad plays in pass pro and a some questions in the running game but all in all not a terrible game.

C.J. Davidson (3.9)- Would have been higher if not for the fumble....just a good rip but still he could have protected it better. By far the only bright spot running the ball.

J.J. McCollough (3.5)- Didn't offer much passing and his blocking was suspect. We need better TE play and we did not get it consistently.

Stanton Seckinger (3.0)- Had the really nice catch but other than that got abused as a blocker when he remembered to block the right guy.

David Beasley (2.0)- Liability in pass pro and in the running game failed to even make solid contact at times. A real disappointment.

Ryan Norton (0.5)- Yeah. You saw it. I saw it. Got bullied all night and then the snaps...and then The Snap. Wow.

AVERAGE UNIT PERFOMANCES

For this, the QB average has Deshaun's weighted more than Cole's since he played more in the game.

TOTAL OFFENSIVE AVERAGE FOR THE FSU GAME: 5.34, AN AVERAGE PERFORMANCE

I think that this is somewhat indicative of what we saw. Great between the 20's, way below average inside them. Balance that and it's an average offense. Let's see what this week brings against our former friend Mr. Koenning.