Clemson vs Georgia Tech Film Review: 1st Quarter

Well, that was easier than I expected. Based on preseason win projection figures and the fact I’ve picked against Clemson once in nearly three full years (to Bama in the first title game), I’m known as one of the sunnier optimists here. I really thought Kelly Bryant would lack the health to flourish in a monsoon, much less play well, and drag Clemson’s entire offense down with him; eventually wearing out a dominant defense, allowing Tech to find success late. I was wrong, and it was another deceptively dominant performance from the start.

I can’t say enough about Bryant. He looked sharp with a wet ball and healthy making movements on a slick surface. The passing game was the most diverse it’s been since Louisville, and we FINALLY saw Clemson take advantage of a tight end seam off play action. No matter Bryant’s actual health, I feared the staff would call plays as if he weren’t healthy (see: Syracuse) and lead us on the aforementioned downward spiral. It never materialized; we saw zone read, plenty of RPOs, and even inverted veer and counter options all in the first few drives. It was a refreshing performance from the start, even if it eventually turtled as expected due to weather.

The defense, meanwhile, continued its dominant ways against Paul Johnson. Tech’s first two drives were almost exclusively dives because they knew there was nothing to be found on the edge with so much speed and aggression in Clemson’s back 7. Any positive yardage was found on dives behind combo blocks, but that didn’t last long when Tech was pushed into 2nd/3rd & long all night. Were it not for the one 65 yard bust in the first quarter, Tech would’ve had, what, 50 yards of offense before garbage time?

I’m used to seeing teams pull their middle linebacker deep off the line to defend the option (keeping him clear of cut blocks to defend the dive) but Brent Venables really wanted to force Tech outside with his strategy. He stacked his Will behind his Mike — so the bigger Tre Lamar could attack cut blocks and the savvy Kendall Joseph could clean up — trusting his DEs to hold the edge (notice the weak side line shift and Bryant in a 2 point stance below) and his secondary to fly the alley to lock down the outside. Clemson will never again lose to Tech with Venables on the sideline.

So disregard the misleading 14 point margin and my uncharacteristic pessimism last week; if Bryant and Clemson looked this sharp in a monsoon against a vastly improved Tech team, it’s fair to expect a fun November and another playoff run.

Clemson is coming.

End of quarter.