The Upside-Clemson | Syracusefan.com

The Upside-Clemson

SWC75

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- We’ve seen a pretty darn good team in the Dome. We’ve won three games and lost to three ranked opponents. We lost by 10 to a #8 team, by 3 to a #25 team and by 10 to a #1 team. We looked like team that could compete with anybody.

- We won the last 58 minutes, 27-23, after it looked like the game was going to be a comedy with no jokes.

- We have the best 5th string quarterback, (he was behind Hunt, Dungy, Long and Wilson to start the season), in the country. Zach Mahoney shook off the disastrous first play to run and pass for 156 yards and two touchdowns. But really, the numbers don’t do him justice. That 97 yard drive to pull us to within 24-31 was a beautiful a performance in a drive by a quarterback as I’ve ever seen. On third and 11 from the 2, Mahoney stood in his own end zone and absorbed a hellish hit but got the ball to Steve Ismael for 28 yards. Then he threaded the needle down the sideline to Brisley Estime for another 17 yards. On the next play he scrambled up the middle for 30 yards. He could have had more and maybe even made it to the end zone but, with only Austin Wilson left behind him on the depth chart, he decided to slide at the Clemson 17. Three plays later he ran 12 yards for the score and anything seemed possible.

- We rushed for 242 yards against a team that’s given up 119 yards on the average. Our offensive line has been our second most maligned unit this year, (to the defensive backfield) but they performed well today. We averaged 7.1 yards per carry and gave up only one sack.

- The most maligned unit gave up a 64 yard pass on the first play and 360 yards for the game, which sounds awful. In fact, there were many times that Clemson tested us deep after that initial play where we actually had good coverage on the guy. We also gave up a lot of yardage on bubble screens and other sideline passes early but adjusted as the game went on. We stopped them on 9 of 14 first downs, forced three punts, got three turnovers, (an interception and two fumbles which, as I recall were forced by defensive backs), and held them to three field goals in the second half. Coach singled out freshman Cordell Hudson, who’d been burned on that first play for praise, saying he had 8 solo tackles a tackle for a loss and “was in the hip pocket of one of the best receivers in the country”. Freshman Juwan Dowells made an amazing interception. Sophomore Antwan Cordy continued to hit a much bigger player. Put them with two other freshmen, Rodney Williams and Kielan Whitner, who have played well and the future is bright for this unit.

- George Morris is becoming the player people though he could be when we saw him in practice. He ran hard and smart, showing some good moves and getting the most out of each play. He had 80 yards on 14 carries and is averaging 5.3 yard per carry, just behind 5.4 for the injured Jordan Fredericks.

- I’ll put this down as an upside: We lost to the best player in the country. DeShaun Watson looked like Donovan McNabb on his best day, completing 34 of 47 for 360 yards and two scores and ran for 105 yards on 14 carries and another score. If they’d had a merely good quarterback we’ve have won. of course, if they’d have had a merely good quarterback, they wouldn’t be the #1 team in the nation. I’ll take DeShaun Watson over Derrick Henry, who runs through holes created by the Alabama line. Watson IS the Clemson offense.

- We did this without Eric Dungey, Jordan Fredericks, Sean Avant, Luke Arciniega, Paris Bennett, Corey Winfield and Davon Ellison, (the latter two are sophomore and freshman defensive backs so add them to the list above).

- This team played like a team that wants to play for THIS coaching staff.

3-7 with 2 or 3 to go (if they need a 5-7 and we’d make a good one!)

LET’S GO ORANGE!!!!
 
point of fact that has been apparently forgotten, at the season's onset, Zack was 6th string, behind Hunt, Long, Dungey, Wilson & Womack

#narrative

#goACC
 
Ugh! The first two minutes of the ballgame was a killer. What a game it could have been?
 
It does my heart good to hear announcers talk about Estime as the threat he is. Then we had some serious sticks on Clemson's return man in the second half. Special teams are back.
 
There were so many standout performances today.
More than I can identify, but here are some, in my opinion - Cordell Hudson, Steven Clark, Ron Thompson, Jonathan Thomas, George Morris, Kayton Samuels, Ben Lewis, and I'm probably missing some guys here.
 
The upside is this ...

You've shown you can play a competitive game against #1 and #9 in the country, now, you
ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO go and beat NCSU and BC, otherwise you can mark this season
as yet another year of SU being a totally irrelevant football program.

Kev
 

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