Five Things I Liked (Clemson)

[steve deberg]

Huge win! Don't care if the narrative out there is that Clemson is reeling and Dabo is done. That's a talented team with an incredible record at home.

• Fran’s Big Cajones
  
  • That onside kick was a thing of beauty. I truly believe that recovering that kick and making it a two score game before Clemson touched the ball was a big reason why we dominated that first half. Throw a gut punch early to a team questioning their legitimacy.
  • Going for it on 4th down. The days of punts on 4th and short at the opponents 40 yard line are far behind us.
• Offensive Organization
  
  • For the most part, our coaches were decisive with the play call, got it in quickly, and the guys got aligned quickly and correctly. This has been one of my biggest gripes thus far this year.
  • We didn’t have many procedural penalties. Willis had that false start on the QB sneak which hurt, but I can’t think of many others.
• Pass Blocking
  
  • Considering the pedigree of Clemson’s pass rushers, I was very happy with how they did from a pass blocking standpoint today.
  • I don’t think Clemson ran as many stunts/ loops/ cross dogs as our previous opponents, but I can’t really think of any instances of a guy running free because our protection was confused about assignments.
  • Maybe the return of Mack was a stabilizing force?
  • Also liked seeing more Byron Washington
• Pressure in Obvious Passing Situations
  
  • We brought 6+ guys in 2nd or 3rd and 7+ yards a few times. The 2nd and 10 where we loaded up the boundary, brought 7 guys, and Klubnik threw the ball off his back foot 5 yards behind his receiver comes to mind.
  • Another step in the right direction, but I still want the pressure dial turned up to 11. I feel like (and hope) that as guys like Samuel and Kerr continue to make strides, Robinson will continue to increase the pressure.
  • We dropped 8 with success a few times - I want that to be the surprise, not for pressure to be the surprise.
• Tackling
  
  • Defence played light outs, and their solid tackling was one of the biggest reasons.
  • Grant made a couple nice tackles for a loss on screen/ bubble plays.
  • The Long also made several nice plays on the ball carrier/ receiver coming downfield hard with proper angles and technique.
  • Deslauriers continues to impress. Made some big hits with great form, and that punch out was a thing of beauty.

The Angeli injury hurts (wishing Steve all the best), but going into this game I felt like Angeli was covering up for a lot of issues with this team. I felt like we’d need him to throw us into competitiveness and cover up for some team weaknesses.

Today I saw a team that made some great strides to address some glaring issues.

I have faith that with Rickie getting a full week of first team reps, and with continued improvement in the above mentioned areas, we could be looking at a 9-10 win team.

Hell, playoffs are on the table until they’re not.

Go Cuse!

 

[steve deberg]

Didn't intend for my post to be so bold. I can't seem to edit it either.

Apologies to your eyes.

 

[SkyTopBus44]

Didn't intend for my post to be so bold. I can't seem to edit it either.

Apologies to your eyes.

Should be bold

 

[DPCuse]

I thought we played in control and didn’t do anything stupid. We were in control mentally today.

 

[CuseFan]

All great points, so Bold good for me!

 

[tbonezone]

Defence played light outs, and their solid tackling was one of the biggest reasons.

point of contact tackling on the perimeter was outstanding today.

 

[sufandu]

I dvr'd the game, so I only caught the first half since I didn't know there would be a weather delay and station change. From what I saw, I loved the progress from the oline, especially in the run game. When we came out with those 5 runs on the first drive, we punched them in the mouth and let them know it would be a long day. I hope they play with that attitude the rest of the way.

 

[Oakland]

I dvr'd the game, so I only caught the first half since I didn't know there would be a weather delay and station change. From what I saw, I loved the progress from the oline, especially in the run game. When we came out with those 5 runs on the first drive, we punched them in the mouth and let them know it would be a long day. I hope they play with that attitude the rest of the way.

And this was right after the announcers said that the Clemson DC stated that he expected the Clemson defense to eliminate the Cuse running game - it was so wonderful to see the team get chunk running play after chunk running play in the first quarter.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Huge win! Don't care if the narrative out there is that Clemson is reeling and Dabo is done. That's a talented team with an incredible record at home.

• Fran’s Big Cajones
  
  • That onside kick was a thing of beauty. I truly believe that recovering that kick and making it a two score game before Clemson touched the ball was a big reason why we dominated that first half. Throw a gut punch early to a team questioning their legitimacy.
  • Going for it on 4th down. The days of punts on 4th and short at the opponents 40 yard line are far behind us.
  • For the most part, our coaches were decisive with the play call, got it in quickly, and the guys got aligned quickly and correctly. This has been one of my biggest gripes thus far this year.
  • We didn’t have many procedural penalties. Willis had that false start on the QB sneak which hurt, but I can’t think of many others.

The Angeli injury hurts (wishing Steve all the best), but going into this game I felt like Angeli was covering up for a lot of issues with this team. I felt like we’d need him to throw us into competitiveness and cover up for some team weaknesses.

Today I saw a team that made some great strides to address some glaring issues.

I have faith that with Rickie getting a full week of first team reps, and with continued improvement in the above mentioned areas, we could be looking at a 9-10 win team.

Hell, playoffs are on the table until they’re not.

Go Cuse!

Terrific post. Nice, detailed observations. I would disagree with this one statement, though:

• I don’t think Clemson ran as many stunts/ loops/ cross dogs as our previous opponents, but I can’t really think of any instances of a guy running free because our protection was confused about assignments.

Seemed to me that they used their Right End on a lot of loops back to the middle of the line. It worked 2 or 3 times that I remember in the 2nd half.

It was like our center would double team one of the DTs, and then because the end was running around the play behind the point of attack, he arrives after a couple seconds, and shows up in the middle of the line with no center to block him.

 

[steve deberg]

Terrific post. Nice, detailed observations. I would disagree with this one statement, though:

• I don’t think Clemson ran as many stunts/ loops/ cross dogs as our previous opponents, but I can’t really think of any instances of a guy running free because our protection was confused about assignments.

Seemed to me that they used their Right End on a lot of loops back to the middle of the line. It worked 2 or 3 times that I remember in the 2nd half.

It was like our center would double team one of the DTs, and then because the end was running around the play behind the point of attack, he arrives after a couple seconds, and shows up in the middle of the line with no center to block him.

I guess you miss some things when a game takes six hours to play!

I do remember their DE Heldt looping in behind their DT a few times, but I thought it usually got partially picked up and ended in a batted pass (which I think they had five or six of).

In any case, given the calibre of our opponent, I think there was definite improvement in this area.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I guess you miss some things when a game takes six hours to play!

I do remember their DE Heldt looping in behind their DT a few times, but I thought it usually got partially picked up and ended in a batted pass (which I think they had five or six of).

In any case, given the calibre of our opponent, I think there was definite improvement in this area.

That was the best our defense has looked in the whole time Robinson has been the DC.