Welp, time to rain on the parade: the defense wasn’t as good as the hype suggests. Yes, it looked
different and yes, we finally figured out how to blitz. But…
- That 10-yard corner or linebacker blitz? It did almost nothing except set up big plays for Clemson.
- Tackling did improve, which was great.
- There were some absolutely great plays, no doubt.
- But our corners got burned more than once, leading to PIs or easy touchdowns.
We need to slow the roll on calling this a “great” defense. Clemson hasn’t hit 400 yards of offense all year—even against Troy—and we gave up 500.
The run game? Randall abused us, and we’re lucky they went away from it. They could’ve run that same pitch/sweep the entire second half and he’d still be racking up yards.
Credit to Big E for finally hitting the “blitz/aggression” button. That was fun to watch.
But overall? The defense looked pretty, yet the proof is still in the pudding: there’s a lot of work left to do.