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The third quarter was not exactly Clemson’s best 15 minutes of football. Everyone hoping the Tigers would come out with a bit more fire after halftime would be disappointed. The Tigers were moving the ball well to start the half, but an unfortunate Kelly Bryant interception killed momentum.
That was about it for Clemson in this half, but Boston College was lucky enough to punch one in, their only points of the game but it was enough to tie the game at the time.
Clemson starts the half well moving the ball, even converting a 4th and short. Then Bryant throws a poor ball that gets picked off and kills momentum
Clemson Ball, Clemson 25, 15:00
| Down and Distance | Formation | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Down and Distance | Formation | Play | Analysis |
| 1st and 10 | 11 Personnel vs 43 | Unbalanced formation with trips WR/TE/RB all the the right, zone read on the DE to the right and it looks like the slot WR is flaring for a pitch but Bryant gives to Feaster for a gain of 4 vs a C4 from BC | The DE splits the difference and crashes on Feaster who finds easy 4 yards behind a good surge but if Bryant keeps, he may end up 1 on 1 in the alley vs a safety as the safety rolled to the trips attacks the screen flare hard |
| 2nd and 6 | 11 Personnel vs 43 | Fake IZ QB lead and there is a huge hole off of RG after Feaster seals the LB, BC once again in a read and react C4 | If Bryant stayed a little more patient, he could have cut right off of Feasters block and once again been on the 3rd level against a safety |
| 3rd and 1 | 12 Personnel vs 43 | Unbalanced right again with Twin TE/WRs/RB to the right, IZ to the left against what looks like a goal line defense, great surge again helps get the 1st | BC does not think we'll try to take the top off with this personnel, they would continue to use this defense against our Twin TE looks in the 2nd half and we never once tried PA to back them off |
| 1st and 10 | 11 Personnel vs 43 | TE wing left, twins right, PA IZ hits Cain on a comeback vs a bail C4 | Bryant does a good job to hit the right read on an easy PA play, ball a little late but the separatin Cain got was sufficient enough |
| 1st and 10 | 11 Personnel vs 43 | TE wing right to the twins, ZR left as Richard arch blocks and does a decent job to seal the DE inside, but Bryant handed inside. Is BC in permanent C4? | The read got muddled as the DE crashed but the LB was ready to take the QB, Bryant plays it smart and let's Feaster crash ahead for 4 yards |
| 2nd and 6 | 11 Personnel vs 43 | TE wing right to the twins again, PA TE slip to the left flats vs perma-C4 from the Eagles | Nice to see us try to get the TE more involved in the passing game this drive, easy pitch and catch for 5 yards |
| 3rd and 1 | 12 Personnel vs 43 | Same unbalanced right formation against the game tight "goalline" D from BC, IZ to the left again | Same thing again as the first time this was ran, BC with no respect for our downfield passing and playing run all the way |
| 4th and Inches | 12 Personnel vs 43 | One TE each on the LOS to both the RT and LT, RB dive straight ahead vs the mid field goal line D of BC | Hearn and Hyatt both maul their guys to give Etienne a crease, thankfully Runbalaya runs at full speed all the time as a LB shot the gap to the right and the safety quickly filled the lane that Hyatt and Hearn created |
| 1st and 10 | 11 Personnel vs 43 | Twins right with a 3 man route in a drive concept vs a C4 from BC, turns into a 5 man rush when Etienne stays in to pass block, ball tipped off of Renfrows fingertips and into the lap of a BC safety | Etienne barely touches his assignment as this rushes Kelly in the pocket, camera was zoomed in so tough to tell if Renfrow broke open earlier, maybe a throw to the back shoulder ends up fine, but the ball seemed late out of Bryant's hand. Late+High=Bad |
BC starts in their own territory and is able to finally convert a third down, but a jailbreak blitz allows Clemson to stop the drive to prevent BC from capitalizing on Clemson’s turnover
BC Ball, BC 34, 11:11
| Down and Distance | Formation | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Down and Distance | Formation | Play | Analysis |
| 1st and 10 | 12 Personnel vs 43 | Ace formation with twins left and TE wing left, BC runs a HB lead with the wing TE leading in the hole against a SAM Fire C6, Dex slips a block to stop for a gain of 1 | Thankfully Dex slips the Center, because BC blocked this decently to the front side |
| 2nd and 9 | 12 Personnel vs 43 | Ace formation with TEs and WR to each side, the WR to the right come in jet motion and this triggers a shift on D as Van Smith rolls to the LOS and Mullen rotates to single high safety, jet sweep is killed by Smith who fires off the edge at the play with O'Daniel finally forcing the WR out at the sideline | This is clearly something the Venebles noticed in film review and coached the guys well to stop it |
| 3rd and 10 | 11 Personnel vs 326 | 3rd and long, trips to the bottom setting up a one on one matchup with Mullen to the top, BC immediately drops back and lets it fly to the one on one for a big gain to the CU 33 | The quick pass that was placed almost perfectly beats Mullen over the top |
| 1st and 10 | 11 Personnel vs 43 | Twins to the right and one comes in motion on a jet sweep, Muse rolls to the flats with the jet in C3, PA Power by BC, covered down the field and thrown to the jet man who is crushed by Muse for a loss | Another good key by the D here on the jet motion leads to a big hit and TFL by Muse |
| 2nd and 14 | 12 Personnel vs 43 | Unbalanced to the rigth with the TE covered by the twins, Base 43 look, power to the strength by BC, Bryant almost gets to the RB before he gets moving and the DTs clean it up | BC may have missed an assignment by not blocking Bryant, but the pulling guard gets enough of him to avoid the TFL |
| 3rd and 13 | 11 Personnel vs 326 | C0 Jailbreak blitz by Clemson here on 3rd and long gets the QB off his spot and forces an errant throw for the incompletion | The blitz works here after failing on the first 3rd down of the drive, the movement by the LBs was the key here |
Clemson gets the ball back but it is a quick 3 and out. Bryant was a little skittish on this drive, maybe a byproduct of the interception? But the pressure from BC’s front may have gotten him to start rushing things.
Clemson Ball, Clemson 6, 8:39
| Down and Distance | Formation | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Down and Distance | Formation | Play | Analysis |
| 1st and 10 | 12 Personnel vs 43 | IZ for Feaster against a base 43 C4, the line gets a good push initially but the BC safeties are crashing hard into the box | If the safeties first steps against 12 personnel are immediately downhill, why not run PA and max protect to see if Cain can get behind the coverage? I was screaming for this live in the stadium and the film begs this question now |
| 2nd and 7 | 12 Personnel vs 43 | Twin TE right and Twin WR left, IZ/ZR to the left for Feaster and it's bottled up against a 9 man box from BC | I don't know if KB trusts Richard to be a blocker on the wing, but if he had the chance to pull here, he could have been 1 on 1 with the safety with 20 yards of grass to the sideline |
| 3rd and 6 | 11 Personnel vs 43 | Motion Richard to the right wing and BC gives a man look, at the snap its C1 with a LB spy and Bryant gets antsy and runs up in the pocket and gets dropped for the sack | No idea why Bryant ran so quickly here, as Hearn and Richard doubled the end rush and the DTs were 7+ yards away, then he ran straight for them |
BC gets the ball back and finally puts together a drive. Clemson’s defense seemed pretty gassed on this drive, not something we are used to seeing. A few unusual mistakes and some good execution by BC tied the game.
BC Ball, Clemson 37, 6:36
| Down and Distance | Formation | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Down and Distance | Formation | Play | Analysis |
| 1st and 10 | 21 Personnel vs 43 | Just a simple HB lead to the weak side of the formation vs a C6 from Clemson, stopped for a short gain | Register (!) slips his block to disrupt the play and Terrell/Robinson (!) cleans up the mess |
| 2nd and 10 | 22 Personnel vs 43 | HB power to the left against a C1 Safety Fire from Clemson, BC pushes the pile for 2 yards | Van Smith flies off the edge to force the ball inside and the mass of bodies inside limits the gain |
| 3rd and 8 | 12 Personnel vs 43 | Ace formation in the gun with a TE wing left, mesh concept with the TE and WR against a C3 look, gains 6 of the 8 needed for the 1st | The TE breaks free of an ankle tackle by Lamar and then takes Williams for a ride of 3 yards (why Williams continues to get snaps in meaningful junctures is beyond me) |
| 4th and 2 | 12 Personnel vs 43 | BC sets up their WR in a wing to look like a heavy 3 TE set, Clemson's call isn't confused as we ran C4 against another mesh concept but the RB releases on a wheel and sneaks behind Mullen for the 1st down | Mullen got pulled down by the TE on the mesh and that half step opened the window for the wheel to the RB |
| 1st and 10 | 12 Personnel vs 43 | ACE wing TE left and BC runs the power lead with the guard trying to kick out Bryant and the TE leading on Lamar, both are stoned on their blocks and Wilkins slips his to keep the gain short | Just good individual efforts by Bryant, Lamar, and Wilkins there |
| 2nd and 10 | 11 Personnel vs 43 | WLB blitz with Ferrel dropping into zone, BC hits the quick out in front of Mullen in zone coverage | A good quick read by the BC QB here just beats the defensive call for a short gain |
| 3rd and 5 | 21 Personnel vs 43 | TE to the right on the LOS with triggers Van Smith to roll down and fire off the edge, BC runs the HB to the weakside though and gets the first | Pinckney gets doubled and JD Davis is too slow to react to collapse the hole that opens off the double team and BC runs free to the 3rd level of the defense |
| 1st and Goal | 23 Personnel vs Goaline | BC comes out with the beef and Skalski is late getting on for the Tigers as BC punches into the endzone off of RT | BC lines it up and just wills their way in, Ferrell and Chad Smith got penetration on the left edge, but the play was to the right |
Clemson gets absolutely no luck in extending this drive, another 3 and out though we did see some different playcalling rather than just running it up the gut here.
Clemson Ball, Clemson 28, 3:23
| Down and Distance | Formation | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Down and Distance | Formation | Play | Analysis |
| 1st and 10 | 11 Personnel vs 43 | Fake jet, QB sweep to the boundary, BC plays C2 against this look and Bryant is stopped for a minimal gain | Anchrum misses his down block on the DT completely and Falcinelli tries to wash him wide but it's too late. If Anchrum makes this block, it's decent yards potentially |
| 2nd and 9 | 11 Personnel vs 43 | Clemson spreads the 11 personnel into a 5 wide set, motions Etienne from the right slot on an inverted veer concept, Bryant gives and Etienne runs fast to the edge and runs over Richard who was just kind of hanging out on the play | BC has coached their DE group well to split the difference on ZR and IV making the reads tougher, as here I think KB could have gotten good yards up the middle but the DE took a step inside before shading to the edge |
| 3rd and 7 | 11 Personnel vs 43 | BC shows a 6 man blitz with C1 behind it and they follow through with the look, Bryant holds on to the ball too long and tries to force it down field, incomplete but lucky it wasn't a fumble | Bryant needs to rep hot reads all this week as Powell was open on the short cross, maybe he gets the first, maybe he doesn't but we need to get the ball in our WR's hands in space when it's available |
BC finishes up the quarter by going 3 and out with Clemson looking more like the defense we’ve seen all week.
BC Ball, BC 23, 2:10
| Down and Distance | Formation | Play | Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Down and Distance | Formation | Play | Analysis |
| 1st and 10 | 21 Personnel vs 43 | Van Smith again rolled to the LOS where the TE is and comes on the fire blitz, BC runs a HB zone lead right at it and churns out 4 yards due to a backside lane opening | Huggins gets cut on the backside and the Clemson D flew to the ball too much and opened a backside crease for BC to find the yardage, |
| 2nd and 6 | 12 Personnel vs 43 | Twin WR right and TE wing left, BC runs IZ where the wing comes in wham motion to kick out the backside DE, but not much going on there | O'Daniel comes on the Sam fire and Bryant pinches inside while Huggins gets decent pentration allowing Lamar to fill and Lamar and Huggins finish the play off |
| 3rd and 5 | 11 Personnel vs 326 | C0 blitz out of the dime of doom but the RB immediately releases to the flats but is stopped short by Lamar | Lamar was initially going to rush it appears but notices the RB going to the flats and immediately takes off in coverage and Carter notices the RB as well and both combine for the stop |
Thankfully the 4th quarter is a bit better for Clemson.