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Clemson opened the 2nd half with the ball and went to work. Halftime didn’t stall Clemson’s momentum and Kelly Bryant led an excellent drive to give Clemson the lead permanently. The defense continued to do well to pretty much dominate Auburn. Unfortunately an ill-timed fumble by Clemson killed off the Tigers momentum and the third quarter ended with a few short drives by both teams.
Apologies for the lack of gifs and details here. Some members of our staff had some difficulty between the remnants of the hurricane and other issues so the 3rd quarter isn’t as comprehensive as you are used to.
Clemson Ball, Clemson 21, Clemson 7 -6, 15:00
Clemson starts the half well with a touchdown to extend the lead. It would be the last score of the game.
Clemson Drive 1
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
| 1st and 10 | CJ Fuller runs for 6 yards on the pitch. | Both WR and TE block their man and allow Fuller to get to the second level. #4 for Auburn is left free so the OL can get to the second level, but Fuller is far enough out wide to at least get 6. |
| 2nd and 4 | Bryant completes a pass to McCloud (3 yards and in) for a 1st down | The OL is doing a bit better at pass blocking, but the quick throw likely saves Bryant. RRM gets across the first down line after the catch and fights for a few extra yards. |
| 1st and 10 | CJ Fuller runs for no gain | Bryant makes the right read to hand the ball to Fuller, but the OL can't get any push. Auburn's DL is doing a good job of setting the edge and forcing the handoff. They have confidence in their ability to make the tackle and don't want to test Bryant's speed |
| 2nd and 10 | Bryant completes a pass to Ray Ray for 33 yards | This is a beautiful outside shoulder throw. Bryant throws it before Ray Ray is even ready but the Auburn CB isn't going to get it. That's probably the best throw Bryant has ever made and if he continues to make those Clemson will be fine. |
Clemson Drive 1
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
| 1st and 10 | Bryant throws an incomplete pass to Deon Cain | Bryant can't quite lob the back shoulder throw in this time. I'd like to see a little more zip on that throw |
| 2nd and 10 | Bryant runs for 5 yards | Bryant finds a slight seem and batters through. This is where we can see the difference running as well. Bryant can fight through a few tackles |
| 3rd and 5 | Bryant completes a 7 yard pass to Hunter Renfrow | Bryant really excels throwing on the move. The throw could have been a but more in front of Renfrow, but it works. A great job at RB blocking the extra man to give Bryant time to throw. |
| 1st and 10 | Clemson penalty, false start | Morris flinched when he was in as a sub for Crowder |
| 1st and 15 | Kelly Bryant runs for a 27 yard TD | Once again Bryant shows his toughness and speed. He hit the hole and likely should have gone down after about 7 yards. But he was ready for the contact and bounced off the defender. An excellent job by the OL to get enough of a hole. |
Auburn Ball, Auburn 20, Clemson 14-6, 11:42
Clemson’s defense continues to settle in here and Auburn can’t get anything going.
Auburn Drive 1
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
| 1st and 10 | Stidham completes a 9 yard pass | Auburn rolls out Stidham and he hits an open receiver. Carter was playing off of him but swarms to the ball quickly. The entire Clemson DL was pressuring Stidham, but he seems a bit more comfortable rolling out here and fires a bullet. |
| 2nd and 1 | Pettway runs forward for 1 yard to get the first down | Christian Wilkins absolutely blew this play up. He was in the backfield as Pettway got the ball, unfortunately he could only trip him up and Pettway fell forward for the first down. |
| 1st and 10 | Pettway once again gets 5 yards to give Auburn a short second down | Auburn's OL does well to slant the Clemson DL to the left. Pettway runs behind them and then cuts to the right. Thankfully he isn't a speedster otherwise this could have been a big gain. It looked like Wallace snuck up to the line, but the Auburn OL did well to seal him off and force him away from Pettway. |
| 2nd and 5 | Stidham gets sacked by Ferrell and fumbles, but Auburn recovers | Ferrell just used his speed to get to Stidham here. The Auburn RB didn't bother to try and chip Ferrell at all even though he ran right by him to be an outlet. I'm not sure Stidham could even react to use the outlet either but he should have thrown it away. Unlucky not to recover the fumble there. |
Auburn Drive 1
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
| 3rd and 14 | Stidham sacked by Bryant and Joseph again. Common theme here. | Stidham evades the outside rush from Bryant initially and steps up in the pocket. Joseph does well to stay and contain Stidham and Bryant comes from behind. A bit of a coverage sack there, but Stidham should have thrown that away. He's rattled. |
| 4th and 18 | Punt for 37 yards | RRM gets a little return here to give Clemson half a field to work with. Auburn kind of sucks at special teams tackling. |
Clemson Ball, Auburn 50, Clemson 14-6, 8:49
The fumble by Fuller absolutely killed the game for Clemson. A TD, or really any points, could have turned this game into a blowout.
Clemson Drive 2
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
| 1st and 10 | Kelly Bryant throws incomplete to Tee Higgins | This was a bad throw on the screen by Bryant. The OL was a mesh sieve and Bryant panicked. Even if Higgins had caught that I'm not sure it goes anywhere. The WRs weren't blocking well and Auburn seemed to have guessed screen |
| 2nd and 10 | Bryant completes 6 yard pass to Powell | Powell sits in the slot here and Bryant finds him quickly. Auburn seems to respect the speed of Clemson's WRs on the inside, but has no problem going man coverage and putting their corners on islands. As long as these quick short routes are available Clemson needs to take advantage. |
| 3rd and 4 | DPI call on Auburn | Cain draws the DPI and it was pretty blatant. Once again Bryant had a very nice back shoulder throw, only Cain was ever going to get it. The call was a bit soft, but the defender had an arm around Cain's back and that will usually get called. |
| 1st and 10 | CJ Fuller runs for loss of 2, fumbles ball nad Auburn recovers and returns it 13 yards | This was just poor ball handling by Fuller. This wasn't a hard hit or anything unusual. Fuller just didn't tuck it away after the handoff and dropped it. Probably not a great sign that the backside guy was able to sprint around untouched. Our OL is not having a great night. |
Auburn Ball, Auburn 44, Clemson 14-6, 7:52
Once again the Clemson defense absolutely destroys Auburn. As bad as the fumble hurt Clemson this drive really seemed to kill Auburn’s desire to score. Or advance the ball. They were moving the ball a bit but then 2 sacks to end the drive hurt them.
Auburn Drive 2
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
| 1st and 10 | Stidham throws an incomplete pass | That was a dangerous throw. The OL lets the Clemson DL on the far side come throw and Stidham rolls away from the pressure. Then he throws across his body and it is ugly. |
| 2nd and 10 | Stidham completes 4 yard pass to Davis | Davis just sits in the coverage and Stidham quickly hits him. But even there Stidham had some accuracy issues that could have made that incomplete. Also funny that Auburn's OL does their best blocking job without an RB or TE staying in. |
| 3rd and 6 | Clemson Penalty, Ferrell Offside | Someone got a little excited here, oh well |
| 3rd and 1 | Pettway runs for 3 yards and 1st down | I'd love to have Pettway at Clemson. His ability to fall forward after contact is invaluable. Without him this would have been even uglier. Here the OL also helped out by creating a real hole, but Clemsons back 7 did well. |
| 1st and 10 | Stidham throws an incomplete pass to Hastings | Clemson gets away with one here. Tanner Muse more or less tackled a WR planning a double move and it threw off the timing just enough. Looked like Stidham and the WR weren't on the same page, but that is a timing route and when it gets disrupted things will look really bad. |
| 2nd and 10 | Stidham throws an incomplete pass | Stidham rolled out once again and came under pressure. This time he actually threw the ball away rather than take the sack. Clemson is just continuing to abuse the Auburn OL. |
| 3rd and 10 | Stidham completes a pass to Davis for 7 yards | Auburn finds a hole underneatht he defense across the middle and Davis makes a good catch. Seemed like Clemson was content to let him run across the defense and because the DL wasn't getting quick pressure Stidham had time to process and throw. |
| 4th and 3 | Stidham sacked by Tre Lamar to give Clemson the ball | This was great recognition by Lamar. He stayed until he saw what the TE and WRs were doing. Then he hit the hole at full speed. |
Clemson Ball, Auburn 49, Clemson 14-6, 5:39
A key penalty stopped another Clemson drive when the Tigers could have at least made a FG. Mitch Hyatt was the culprit and it was just one example of a no good very bad day for him.
Clemson Drive 3
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
| 1st and 10 | Bryant runs for a 3 yard gain | Clemson fakes the sweep and Bryant wisely pulls it to run. Auburn was overpursuing and that left Bryant a hole to run through |
| 2nd and 7 | Bryant completes a 7 yard pass to Deon Cain | A quick slant gives Clemson the first down. These quick throws have really shown off Bryant's confidence. He's gunning the ball right into the WRs without problem |
| 1st and 10 | Bryant sacked by Brown for 2 yard loss | The Auburn DL gets up and around the outside of Clemson's OL. Bryant steps up, but the pocket collapses and he has nothing. The OL is just getting beat by speed, nothing fancy here. |
Clemson Drive 3
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
| 2nd and 12 | Clemson completes pass to Hunter Renfrow for no gain | This almost seemed like it was supposed to be a tunnel screen but not everyone got the memo. Renfrow is in the open field without a lot of help and gets dropped. |
| 3rd and 12 | Clemson called for offensive holding on Hyatt | Bryant got close to the first down but Hyatt had to hold to get him free. Whoops. |
| 3rd and 22 | Bryant throws incomplete to Renfrow | Bryant tried to hit Renfrow across the middle in the slot but it was defensed perfectly. Not much there though Bryant was a bit quick to pull the trigger there, especially for a throw that wasn't going to be a first down. |
| 4th and 22 | Clemson punt for 51 yards | I'll take a 51 yard punt for a touchback every single time. That's a distance we can use later this season |
Auburn Ball, Auburn 20, Clemson 14-6, 2:53
We have no reached the 3 and out portion of the game. 3 and Stidham doesn’t have the same ring as 3 and Stoudt though.
Auburn Drive 3
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
| 1st and 10 | Stidham completes 6 yard pass to Ryan Davis | A nice out route gave Auburn an easy completion. Good open field tackle by Mullen to prevent the first down. |
| 2nd and 4 | Stidham throws an incomplete pass toEli Stove | Stidham looked for the bomb but Clemson had double coverage by Fields and Wallace. Not much there though Stidham had plenty of time. |
| 3rd and 4 | Stidham runs for no gain | To be fair to Stidham, he did an excellent job to get away from pressure by Ferrell and Wilkins. But the rest of Clemson's defense was aware and got him before he could get beyond the LOS |
| 4th and 4 | Auburn punt for 29 yards | Auburn is having a bad case of "Terrible Punting" right now |
Clemson Ball, Clemson 45, Clemson 14-6, 1:38
Granted Clemson returns the favor here. So... any ideas for a nickname here?
Clemson Drive 4
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Down & Distance | Play | Analysis |
| 1st and 10 | Feaster runs for 2 yards | Feaster takes a handoff and hits the small hole hard. You'd like to see the OL get a bit more push here, but the right side hasn't been kind. |
| 2nd and 8 | Bryant completes pass to Amari Rodgers for 5 yards | Once again Bryant rolls out and Rodgers sits a few yards downfield. Those quick throws into soft Auburn coverage have been there all night. |
| 3rd and 3 | Bryant throws incomplete pass to Rodgers | Miscommunication by Rodgers and Bryant. Seems like Rodgers went a little too far down the field before cutting in and he was late to the throw. |
| 4th and 3 | Spiers punts for 36 yards | This was some nice distance controll to pin Auburn at the 12 yard line. |