BarrelORum
Mediocre Poster
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2002
- Messages
- 16,274
I drove up to the game yesterday from Savannah and at 12pm, drove back to Savannah and got back this morning at 4am. So I had a ton of time to think about this game on the way back. I also watched the replay this evening of the game on DVR.
First off, we are lucky to walk out of last nights game with a win. I never thought much of Dabo Swinney. Quite honest I thought this guy was a bum of a coach who was riding a wave of post Tommy Bowden emotions from his players to go 4-3 to end the season last year and maintain the Clemson head coaching job.
I was wrong about Coach Swinney. That guy can flat out coach. Anyone who can totally get schooled in the first quarter by PJ, keep his team calm, and mount a 27 point lead changing rally can flat out coach.
This was a character game for both teams. The character that Clemson showed in coming back from 24-0 and the character that our team showed in fighting back and winning the game after blowing a 24pt lead, says a lot about both teams. As much as I don't like Clemson, it was almost hard to see a team lose, but someone had to.
Alright, onto the game.
1st quarter PJ was in another atmosphere as far as coaching. The reason we won this game was coaching plain and simple. That said, PJ built up such a lead in that department he was lucky to hold onto it. Best Special Teams Play I can remember at GT in a long long time.
As great as PJ coached overall, this was the first game I can remember where I wasn't very impressed with some of the play calling. I think before PJ tries to figure out why our 3rd down conversions suck and we have a QB who is inconsistent, he needs to look in the mirror as far as play calling goes to see how playcalling effected both of these issues.I'll get back to this in a minute.
On offense:
I thought the OLine played above par but they just flat out couldn't block Clemson's DT's. Our oline at least wasn't getting pushed in our backfield like last year, so Dwyer wasn't losing a lot of yards, but he wasn't gaining many either. It seemed like our oline just couldn't move the Clemson DT's. Even when Dwyer got somewhat stuffed, he still ended up chugging out 2-3 yards on a stuffed carry.
Nesbitt is a little bit of a mystery. I still maintain that Nesbitt is going to be absolutely great QB for GT. He played well when it counted and that is what I love about Nesbitt. His throwing stats sucked. Frankly, he should have had an easy 4 more completions for another 100+ yards of offense. Nesbitt's problem as I see it is he doesn't have the touch when he needs it to float a pass, or he puts too much on it. These are signs of a QB who is not in his rhythm. That was evident all night.
Some of this I have to attribute to playcalling. PJ didn't use any short easy passes to get Nesbitt in a rhythm. When he calls a passing play, it seemed to be these all or nothing low percentage pass plays. PJ definitely needs to utilize some short easy passes for Nesbitt to allow Nesbitt to get into a rhythm.
I don't know if Clemson had a great gameplan or GT just didn't do a good job of executing theirs. We still had over 400 yards which amazes me when I think about it. Maybe because the first half was a distant memory come the second half when we got our asses handed to us. Their Linebackers played very disciplned ball and their DT's just totally controlled the middle. It felt like we could have rushed for 500 yards in the game after rolling up 246 yards in the first half. We had a mere 60+ in the entire second half and most of that was Nesbitt's three runs on the game tying drive. Did we just get out of our gameplan?
In the 4th when we were driving the field behind 27-24, I noticed that PJ finally was able to exploit what Clemson was doing with their DT's. They figured that Clemson was crashing the gap where Dwyer was going and the off tackle past Dwyer, so Nesbitt was hitting the opposite opening after the fake to Dwyer, and this was the reason Nesbitt had three really long runs that setup the game tying field goal. I was waiting for the backside pitch off tackle to the A-back when we could catch Clemson going the wrong way. PJ finally pulled this out on the next and final drive, and AA went for close to 20 yards, but we had a stupid holding penalty which killed it. I thought if he pulled this out on the same drive Nesbitt drove the field, we might have gotten a TD instead of a field goal.
Anyway, when it counted, Nesbitt hit Beybey and then Blair proved to me that he is a clutch kicker once again and sealed the win.
In the 2nd quarter, When we were up 21-0 and drove the field, we should have scored to make it 28-0. Its like we got complacent and just settled for the field goal. The second half frustrated me greatly because it seemed like we refused to try and get the ball to Dwyer in open space. I was disappointed we didn;t line Dwyer up at A-back and put Cox at B-back and dare Clemson to crash the gaps again with the threat of Dwyer on the outside. I also was a little miffed at some of the pass playing calls. On 2nd and long whenever we were on our side of the field, we passed. Didn't make sense. On option plays to the A-back, Clemson was getting to the outside very fast.
Overall, Anthony Allen showed a lot of power and speed. Nesbitt rushed the ball well. Dwyer ran hard even though I don't think the playcalling did him any favors. The second half overall was frustrating because it seemed we stopped trying to get our playmakers on the edges. Beybey had a big time game. Derrick Morgan is an absolute beast. He's better than Michael Johnson. Or maybe Clemson's right tackle sucks ass.
On Defense, I thought our Dline played great with the exception on three specific plays Parker had all day to throw the ball. Jacory Harris will kill us if we give him that much time. Most of Clemson's offense came on the outside so overall I was happy with the DLine play. Even though Morgan basically produced half of the production among the dline, I still thought that overall as a unit, they did very well. I would like to see Robert Hall make more big plays though as he definitely disappears in the game. He just needs to make his presence known and start playing with some attitude.
I thought the secondary played great at times, and then would fall asleep on a key down. We seemed to have good coverage because either we got a coverage pressure/sacks, Parker had all day to throw which typically means guys are covered and we're not getting pressure. For the second straight game I thought Cooper Taylor did not have a good game, and that's not taking the awful coverage on Spiller for the TD into consideration. I didn't think he had a bad game either, but I'm so used him making huge plays that I just haven't seen him put it all together yet this season.
Next week is huge. While last night I was sick to my stomach for most of the game, I was proud that our guys fought back at the end and took control of the game. I also was saying that Miami could kill us if we play like that against them. That said, I think Clemson's defense is better than Miami's. But I also think Miami's offense is much better than Clemsons. I see next week being a very high scoring affair.
The other thing is I think the Miami game is actually setting up nicely for us. Miami is coming off a huge win where they could have their guard down. they have this week off so they were definitely watching our game and probably weren't shaking in their boots. Hopefully they bring a false sense of confidence into this game which I think is highly likely. Last year they had two weeks to prepare for us and this week a little less than that. Too boot, PJ is pissed about this teams killer instinct now letting down in two second halfs in a row. So I see a more complete effort next week. That game didn't feel like a win. It felt like a "Whew!"
I'm not yet sold that this could be a really special season for us based on last night. I had high hopes, but those hopes have been shaken drastically. If we can somehow make a statement in Miami which is a tall order considering they are a much better team than last year, maybe we can be a 10-2 or even better team.
But last nights team will lose 4 games this season if things don't start coming together quickly. We live too much on the big play and cannot sustain drives. 3rd down efficiency was atrocious and part of that was calling low percentage plays. The final drive of the 1st half was almost stupid watching the replay of it. Why not pitch the ball or get the ball to Dwyer or Allen on the edge and see if you can't make a big play instead of relying on Nesbitt to hit a streaking WR?
It was weird watching it. Almost like PJ was calling plays out of his element without a rhythm. Very un-PJ like. Maybe he is some master mind genius who called plays in mind that we play Miami next week and he wants them to work on defending the pass.
Weird game overall and I think we are very lucky to get out with a win. Kudos for our guys for getting it done, and my hats off to Coach Swinney and the clemson players who made it a game.
2-0, 1-0 in the ACC. Looking forward to the Miami game to see what kind of team we really have. Two top ranked teams playing on National TV. This game is much bigger than Clemson.
First off, we are lucky to walk out of last nights game with a win. I never thought much of Dabo Swinney. Quite honest I thought this guy was a bum of a coach who was riding a wave of post Tommy Bowden emotions from his players to go 4-3 to end the season last year and maintain the Clemson head coaching job.
I was wrong about Coach Swinney. That guy can flat out coach. Anyone who can totally get schooled in the first quarter by PJ, keep his team calm, and mount a 27 point lead changing rally can flat out coach.
This was a character game for both teams. The character that Clemson showed in coming back from 24-0 and the character that our team showed in fighting back and winning the game after blowing a 24pt lead, says a lot about both teams. As much as I don't like Clemson, it was almost hard to see a team lose, but someone had to.
Alright, onto the game.
1st quarter PJ was in another atmosphere as far as coaching. The reason we won this game was coaching plain and simple. That said, PJ built up such a lead in that department he was lucky to hold onto it. Best Special Teams Play I can remember at GT in a long long time.
As great as PJ coached overall, this was the first game I can remember where I wasn't very impressed with some of the play calling. I think before PJ tries to figure out why our 3rd down conversions suck and we have a QB who is inconsistent, he needs to look in the mirror as far as play calling goes to see how playcalling effected both of these issues.I'll get back to this in a minute.
On offense:
I thought the OLine played above par but they just flat out couldn't block Clemson's DT's. Our oline at least wasn't getting pushed in our backfield like last year, so Dwyer wasn't losing a lot of yards, but he wasn't gaining many either. It seemed like our oline just couldn't move the Clemson DT's. Even when Dwyer got somewhat stuffed, he still ended up chugging out 2-3 yards on a stuffed carry.
Nesbitt is a little bit of a mystery. I still maintain that Nesbitt is going to be absolutely great QB for GT. He played well when it counted and that is what I love about Nesbitt. His throwing stats sucked. Frankly, he should have had an easy 4 more completions for another 100+ yards of offense. Nesbitt's problem as I see it is he doesn't have the touch when he needs it to float a pass, or he puts too much on it. These are signs of a QB who is not in his rhythm. That was evident all night.
Some of this I have to attribute to playcalling. PJ didn't use any short easy passes to get Nesbitt in a rhythm. When he calls a passing play, it seemed to be these all or nothing low percentage pass plays. PJ definitely needs to utilize some short easy passes for Nesbitt to allow Nesbitt to get into a rhythm.
I don't know if Clemson had a great gameplan or GT just didn't do a good job of executing theirs. We still had over 400 yards which amazes me when I think about it. Maybe because the first half was a distant memory come the second half when we got our asses handed to us. Their Linebackers played very disciplned ball and their DT's just totally controlled the middle. It felt like we could have rushed for 500 yards in the game after rolling up 246 yards in the first half. We had a mere 60+ in the entire second half and most of that was Nesbitt's three runs on the game tying drive. Did we just get out of our gameplan?
In the 4th when we were driving the field behind 27-24, I noticed that PJ finally was able to exploit what Clemson was doing with their DT's. They figured that Clemson was crashing the gap where Dwyer was going and the off tackle past Dwyer, so Nesbitt was hitting the opposite opening after the fake to Dwyer, and this was the reason Nesbitt had three really long runs that setup the game tying field goal. I was waiting for the backside pitch off tackle to the A-back when we could catch Clemson going the wrong way. PJ finally pulled this out on the next and final drive, and AA went for close to 20 yards, but we had a stupid holding penalty which killed it. I thought if he pulled this out on the same drive Nesbitt drove the field, we might have gotten a TD instead of a field goal.
Anyway, when it counted, Nesbitt hit Beybey and then Blair proved to me that he is a clutch kicker once again and sealed the win.
In the 2nd quarter, When we were up 21-0 and drove the field, we should have scored to make it 28-0. Its like we got complacent and just settled for the field goal. The second half frustrated me greatly because it seemed like we refused to try and get the ball to Dwyer in open space. I was disappointed we didn;t line Dwyer up at A-back and put Cox at B-back and dare Clemson to crash the gaps again with the threat of Dwyer on the outside. I also was a little miffed at some of the pass playing calls. On 2nd and long whenever we were on our side of the field, we passed. Didn't make sense. On option plays to the A-back, Clemson was getting to the outside very fast.
Overall, Anthony Allen showed a lot of power and speed. Nesbitt rushed the ball well. Dwyer ran hard even though I don't think the playcalling did him any favors. The second half overall was frustrating because it seemed we stopped trying to get our playmakers on the edges. Beybey had a big time game. Derrick Morgan is an absolute beast. He's better than Michael Johnson. Or maybe Clemson's right tackle sucks ass.
On Defense, I thought our Dline played great with the exception on three specific plays Parker had all day to throw the ball. Jacory Harris will kill us if we give him that much time. Most of Clemson's offense came on the outside so overall I was happy with the DLine play. Even though Morgan basically produced half of the production among the dline, I still thought that overall as a unit, they did very well. I would like to see Robert Hall make more big plays though as he definitely disappears in the game. He just needs to make his presence known and start playing with some attitude.
I thought the secondary played great at times, and then would fall asleep on a key down. We seemed to have good coverage because either we got a coverage pressure/sacks, Parker had all day to throw which typically means guys are covered and we're not getting pressure. For the second straight game I thought Cooper Taylor did not have a good game, and that's not taking the awful coverage on Spiller for the TD into consideration. I didn't think he had a bad game either, but I'm so used him making huge plays that I just haven't seen him put it all together yet this season.
Next week is huge. While last night I was sick to my stomach for most of the game, I was proud that our guys fought back at the end and took control of the game. I also was saying that Miami could kill us if we play like that against them. That said, I think Clemson's defense is better than Miami's. But I also think Miami's offense is much better than Clemsons. I see next week being a very high scoring affair.
The other thing is I think the Miami game is actually setting up nicely for us. Miami is coming off a huge win where they could have their guard down. they have this week off so they were definitely watching our game and probably weren't shaking in their boots. Hopefully they bring a false sense of confidence into this game which I think is highly likely. Last year they had two weeks to prepare for us and this week a little less than that. Too boot, PJ is pissed about this teams killer instinct now letting down in two second halfs in a row. So I see a more complete effort next week. That game didn't feel like a win. It felt like a "Whew!"
I'm not yet sold that this could be a really special season for us based on last night. I had high hopes, but those hopes have been shaken drastically. If we can somehow make a statement in Miami which is a tall order considering they are a much better team than last year, maybe we can be a 10-2 or even better team.
But last nights team will lose 4 games this season if things don't start coming together quickly. We live too much on the big play and cannot sustain drives. 3rd down efficiency was atrocious and part of that was calling low percentage plays. The final drive of the 1st half was almost stupid watching the replay of it. Why not pitch the ball or get the ball to Dwyer or Allen on the edge and see if you can't make a big play instead of relying on Nesbitt to hit a streaking WR?
It was weird watching it. Almost like PJ was calling plays out of his element without a rhythm. Very un-PJ like. Maybe he is some master mind genius who called plays in mind that we play Miami next week and he wants them to work on defending the pass.
Weird game overall and I think we are very lucky to get out with a win. Kudos for our guys for getting it done, and my hats off to Coach Swinney and the clemson players who made it a game.
2-0, 1-0 in the ACC. Looking forward to the Miami game to see what kind of team we really have. Two top ranked teams playing on National TV. This game is much bigger than Clemson.
