Clemson vs Boston College Film Review: 1st Half

Welcome heathens. Welcome to the Death Half, you doomscrolling sickos.

I won’t get bogged down in the lede here since we all know what Clemson lacked Saturday. DJ was good. The OL was not. DBs were beaten on contested passes early and often but were at least in position, and when BC came back down to earth Clemson ultimately stifled them. BC certainly turtled their way into a loss, but this speaks more to what Clemson was able to overcome without so many of their top players. The warts are what they are at this point, and Clemson’s still overcoming them with many of its superstars sidelined.

I’m much more confident in DJ’s ability to win at Notre Dame now. I am less confident in a defense without Tyler Davis. Notre Dame has the best offensive line Clemson will face and could have their way on the ground if Davis is still out. They’ll certainly want to lean on the run game and a great defense to do enough against Clemson without Trevor Lawrence, though Clemson hasn’t been good on the perimeter across either side of the ball themselves. Davis is the key returnee Clemson needs most to keep the Irish at arm’s length, given how well DJ played in Lawrence’s stead. But that’s for later this week. For now, get this first half out of your system and move on.

I want to take a closer look at the opening play on BC’s ensuing drive, since they manipulated Clemson into revealing the coverage and taking advantage of it here.

The key here is both corners are on the near side of the field, matched on the two receivers in man cover 1. Motion pulls Sheridan Jones back into a deep middle coverage, which would be fine if he were a safety, and in turn shifts Turner out of the deep zone responsibility and into man coverage against the in-line tight end, while Zanders has to pick up the receiver motioning to the far side.

Jones chased the underneath crosser instead of maintaining deep middle responsibility, and DK never recovered after the receiver’s clever use of the umpire screen. This is technically on Jones busting deep coverage, but the call put him in a bad position; Brent Venables was beaten here.

Moving ahead after a 3rd & long tackle-breaking scramble, Jones whiffing on a double move for a PI in the end zone, and subsequent goal line TD run...

I’m ending this drive chart here since that’s the end of the 1st quarter and Clemson is in the red zone, soon to be first and goal at the 2. The offensive line proceeds to get stuffed to the point where we have to put DJ under center in the jumbo package and bobble the exchange to Etienne, scoop and score, 14 point swing. We could nitpick DJ for the high exchange but I put this on the OL failing to move anyone in short yardage on 3 straight plays.

You have the best running back in league history and you can’t pave a yard for him in 3 plays. Abysmal. This is why Dabo chose to punt with 90 seconds left in the game (Spiers gave us the punt of his life before Bresee ended the game to vindicate the decision). But if there’s any confidence in the OL left (like Dabo continually says he has), it must have dried up here.

And this is why I don’t see how the voters continue to keep Clemson ranked number 1. Missing Lawrence, Ross, and our best defenders, sure, I understand the free pass. But this running game is one of many red flags now that we’re in November and there’s been little to no improvement. Elliott will have to be better about creativity in the run game to find space for Etienne. The screens and wheels have been welcome additions to the passing game, and brutal mismatches for every defense. It’s time to alter the straight inside zone, though, unless there’s jet motion or other eye candy to pull defenders out of the box — this interior OL can’t handle the numbers disadvantage as is — and put them in position to perform better.

2nd Quarter

The turning of the tide follows this BC score, fortunately, when Clemson puts together a nice 1 minute drive to kick a field goal. DLG will pick up from here with the second half later this week.