~ Written by Esteemed EOTH Blogger, Captain Optimist~
Greetings EOTH. Here’s my strategic overview of Clemson. I’ll prepare a more detailed discussion of the Offense and Defense later in the week, time and space permitting. At the very least this piece will give you a broad idea of what our boys will be facing this coming Saturday.
OFFENSE
Everything revolves around the RBs, Kyle Parker, and isolating and confusing the opponent’s LBs. Clemson runs misdirection, screens, and rollouts
regularly, hoping to distract or create mismatches. When they pass, it’s usually of the three step, rollout, quick-hitter variety, ALWAYS to the right side of the field if a rollout. Part of this comes from Parker’s average arm-strength and their less than standout WRs, but it may also come from Dabo Swinney’s preference for quick-hitting, safe, ball control football.
RBs…..Andre Ellington and Jamie Harper are a very talented duo. Ellington is smaller and very fast, not CJ Spiller fast, but he has excellent acceleration and vision, makes cutbacks with no loss of speed and is not afraid of contact. Harper’s much larger at 235 to Ellington’s 195, but Harper is very agile, a very good cutter and has plenty of speed to outrun LBs to the edge, as well as very good hands coming out of the backfield. Reportedly he’s the best receiver on the team. He looked it against Auburn.
The offense features them in all sorts of misdirections, shovel passes, and straight hand-offs, as well as wheel-routes. They run behind a veteran OL, although I think they lost two OL starters against Auburn.
QB…..Parker’s a talented, though somewhat limited, QB. He’s small for a D-I QB these days, standing barely 6’0′ and weighing 200 at the most. He’s smart with the ball and throws well within a 15-25 yard range. 5-15 yard passes are the bulk of his throws, most of them coming on rollouts and 3-step drops, unless they feel the defense is on their heels, in which case he occasionally takes a 5-step drop and goes in the 20-30 yard range.
WRs & TEs…..This is easily the weakest link in Clemson’s gameplan and it shows in their play selection. Probably 80% of their offense runs through the RBs, with the remaining 20% being split between the WRs and TE. I’d actually say the TE gets the larger chunk of this because he’s easier to hit on rollouts. Their WRs make some moves occasionally, but Parker and Sweeney don’t seem to have much confidence in them or maybe Ellington and Harper are just more dangerous. I’d say the latter.
DEFENSE
DL is the strongest unit and the key to this D. They’re big, fast and very active, with a lot of experience. LBs seem to be solid but not very experienced. Auburn didn’t do much to really challenge them so it was hard to tell how much they could and could not do. DBs didn’t look very good the few times Auburn really challenged them, although Cam Newton threw into coverage twice for easy INTs. #2 (DeAndre McDaniel) is the leader of this unit and arguably the best, most experienced player on the defense as a whole. Yes, he’s the one who nabbed J12 twice last year, once for a TD. His discipline is questionable, and actually cost Clemson the game-changing TD in the 4th by being badly out of position. However, he’s a big-hitter and makes great plays on the ball.
Clemson-Auburn Strategic Review
The Clemson-Auburn game was definitely a tale of two halves. Clemson’s first drive was a clinic on misdirection, short-play-action passing, and RB cutbacks and acceleration, culminating in a great catch and run by Harper for an 8-yard TD.
As I mentioned above, Auburn played a man defense for most of the game and in the 1st half their LBs were often late or lost at the point-of-attack.
On offense, Auburn’s spread was nullified at the LOS by Clemson’s more talented DL. The LBs only had to finish off the plays. The DL stuffed the run, sacked, or pressured Newton on several occasions. Auburn didn’t seem to have any confidence in their passing game in the 1st half and made it an easy game for Clemson’s D.
Clemson finished the 1st half strong with a great drive capped by a diving TD catch by Harper on a 25-yard pass from Parker.
At the half it looked like Clemson was going to blow out Auburn. It was that lopsided.
In the 2nd half, Auburn came out with more intensity and straightened out their LB mistakes, for the most part, holding Clemson to one TD after giving up 17 in the 1st half. Their LBs were more patient, and they blitzed more, with their DL standing up and separating the Clemson OL so that the LBs could have clear paths to the RBs. Their DBs also came up closer to the LOS and played much tighter and tougher run defense.
On offense, Auburn did two things primarily. 1) They challenged Clemson’s DBs downfield and found success for two big plays and 2) they stretched Clemson’s defense to the outside then back to the inside on successive runs.
I’m not sure why Clemson was suddenly porous in these aspects. I think they let down mentally and Auburn came out with much more intensity.
There wasn’t anything tactically special about the playcalling, other than it attacked more and forced Clemson to defend the entire field instead of just a few running plays up the middle or a predictable pass to the sideline flats.
The one thing that did improve was pass-protection for Newton, and they opened a couple of holes in the middle for good runs.
Auburn’s D was solid as unit but seemed to play much better attacking than reading and reacting.
Overall, Clemson is dangerous but their playcalling limitations make them somewhat predictable.
If our DEs and OLBs play well, meaning, don’t fall for fakes, stay home, harass and hit Parker, cover RBs on pass routes, and our DBs come up strong in run support, we can shut them down on offense, more or less. Ellington and Harper are dynamic but when you know the plays it almost doesn’t matter who’s running.
After watching them for 3 quarters I could almost predict what play would come next.
Specifically, I would play a mix of man and zone, zone for the majority of the time for our LBs, but patience and discipline are the keys. C-Mac MUST learn how to wait and read the play before barging into a pile of players like he did against OSU. Ellington and Harper are more dangerous than Sain and Herron (Ohio St.) because they’re more explosive. If he’s patient, he’ll be able to zero in on them before they get downfield.
Our DBs can match-up well with their WRs and should play a cover two. Vaughn Telemaque and Ray Ray Armstrong should be very active and make a lot of tackles in run support and on the shorter passing routes.
Every time we blitz it should be to Parker’s right, and it should be a wide-angled blitzed so that the blitzer can adjust if Parker rolls out. Andrew Smith and Allen Bailey could have very big games in this respect too.
On offense, we should pass first to set up the run. But we must be able to run decisively and methodically at some point. When we pass we should challenge those DBs early and often with slants, quick outs to Kendal Thompkins and Travis Benjamin, give them a blocker with one man to miss and let them make moves. #2 McDaniel will almost certainly be called upon to double team Leonard Hankerson or Benjamin. I expect Mark Whipple to use his aggressiveness against him by luring him in one direction only to attack another.
But the running game is the real key to this. When Auburn scored its second long pass play, it was becasuse #2 had moved up within ten yards of the LOS to load the box against Auburn’s running game, which had become successful. This opened the door for one mistake by the CB to equal a TD for Auburn.
Thus, the running game will slow down the pass rush and take some pressure off Figs or whoever is at RT, because the last thing they need is a Da’Quan Bowers pinning back his ears. Whoever is at RT will need some help there from Chase Ford or a RB staying in for protection. But the best help is a dangerous running game. So my advice is to truly block well on the running plays so the passing plays have less drama. This includes draws and even screens since they’re like an extended hand-off.
The more detailed breakdown of the offense will be next.
1ST!
Good job Cap.!
Can somebody put out an APB for Calvin
lol, Cubed. We haven’t seen him for a few days, have we?
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/sep/28/battle-lines-drawn/
good read
Cav, can you get me part 2 by tomorrow morning? May need to run before MKF if my flight is delayed tomorrow. Thanks!
Great piece by Manny on Futch and makes you proud to have Coach Shannon on board. Needless to say I am more than willing to take back previous comments about Futch beinga bonehead..
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/umiami/2010/09/shannon-helps-futch-through-tragedy.html#comments
It was a great article and really makes you pull for these kids and Shannon.
JSQ says:
September 28, 2010 at 12:47 PM
Okay was only 7.50 and got to print off my boarding pass. Score!
So ready to go home! Hope I can fly ino FLL tomorrow afternoon!!!
I’ll be really surprised if you’re able to fly in tomorrow!
JSQ, no problems darlin’. I’ll watch them again in a few hours and write it up.
Great article Cav
CO – great job as always. Quality article every time on this blog.
This will be a great match up beteewn these two teams. One thing that will be key for us besides Jacory not having Ints is how much we lock down their Wrs and TEs making them run the ball more. Last year we gave parker all the time in the world to throw not this year. Having Hill as our other starting corner will give us that much needed pressure to cover the Wrs and stop the run. He is more physical then Dvd and have more experience. That was a great move by the coaching staff in my opinion to start him last week. Other than that our Defense will bring more pressure unlike last season. petri with all that D-Line experience really is starting to show. Now if we can get a special team coach and an Agressive Whip..WE ARE SCRAIGHT
agree with the comments about the excellent article cav posted and the excellent blog article manny posted
Hows the weather going to be on saturday up there?
CC, DZ8 and Truth, thanks. Always means a lot coming from the EOTH Legion.
Great stuff as usual Cav!
I had to read it several times for editing purposes, Captain O. It was a good read.
I definitely think you hit on some of Clemson’s tendencies.
Back in the house. Had to catch up on the blogs and what not. I see the whipple debate was still alive and well and i’ll say this about whipple. It’s not the design of his plays that’s the problem, it’s his feel for when he calls certain plays that’s the problem. whipple calls great plays on 1 drive, and below average plays on others. Than you add in the jacory pick 2′s and that makes the offense look worse.
You can see it in the players demeanors, damien berry is balling, but he can be used better. Also, with us not having a right tackle that can pass block, how about calling draw plays to the right to help slow down the left defensive end. let em blow up field like he will against figs and run the draw to that side.
I don’t think whip calls the right plays to the right side of the o-line. That hurry up offense, get rid of that, it’s not helping jacory mentally. He’s a calm type guy, let em do his thing.
This girl got the time wrong for the firm party and is sitting at an open bar by myself for 20 minutes.
I guess it’s time for my first New Orleans drink. After 4 days.
Before you start, the bourbon was in Baton Rouge!
Hey, there he is. Welcome back.
I like the hurry-up, personally, keeps the D on their toes. Can’t substitute as much. Makes the players and defensive staff rush calls. I like a little sprinkled in.
Anyone want a cocktail?
I have never seen so much booze in my life. They definitely got the memo this is a law firm function.
Cal, Whipple actually called ONE draw in the 1st Q. That was the one thing I wished he’d done in the 2nd half when Pitt was basically pinning back their ears. I think that’s why he had Miller in there thinking he could break a big one. But he expected the OL to just open some holes, and they didn’t. THAT’S when he should’ve called a draw or two, esp. with Miller in there.
I definitely expect more of that against Clemson though. You gotta slow down those DEs. Burn Bowers for a couple of 20+ yarders and that entire defense will slow down and think twice.
Overall, though, I think he was trying to get J12 and TB in sync, so he kept throwing. But he did give the OL plenty of chances to take control of the game, they couldn’t do it straight ahead.
I think in some ways he used this game as a testing ground for things he’ll use later. Remember, we’re a game behind everyone else, and OSU was sort of a wash for the regular play-book. So this game was really his first chance to see our guys against some legit competition with room to breathe.
With improved technique and core-leg strength, Vernon could turn into a Julius Peppers type DE. He has the athleticism jut not the technique yet. He still gets caught up and loses leverage.
JSQ, measure yourself darlin’.
Just thought I’d throw that out there for kicks and giggles. haha
Was listening to dbj on wqam, this is who that sid guy reminds me of:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w07dKi9fRFU
PB, thanks bro.
Watching ‘The Experts’ on ESPN.
Pat Forde, of all guys, picked Miami. Cane Hater David Pollack says Clemson’s D is better than UM’s.
cav, if whipple doesn’t figure out a way to get lamar miller the ball better than he’s doing, that’ll keep explaining why he’s just an average oc in college right now.
jacory throwing picks, no excuses, at the same time though, he’s not in a good rythm right now anyway. That injury to his thumb, he doesn’t want to feel that any more. The more he gets tired of being ridiculed by the media, the better he should play.
Cal, yeah, I’m a little surprised by the lack of creativity with using Miller and James, although James did get a couple of touches.
At the same time, you have to think Whipple’s keeping a few things up his sleeves for some of the tougher games remaining, like this weeknd, UNC and FSU.
There’s no reason we can’t use our RBs the same way Clemson uses theirs, as far as pass-catching and such. Or even the way OSU uses their two main guys.
Then again, as you said, J12′s not really in a groove, so maybe Whipple decided to try to get him as many passing reps and looks as reasonably possible, while still controlling the game.
To they should’ve done that against FAMU. But hindsight always helps.
I remember that’s what Spurrier used to do against the cupcakes. He kept running his offense until the QBs looked the way he wanted them to look, to hell with hurting someone’s feelings. I got a conference to win, dammit!! lol
I think that needs to be Shannon’s attitude against the creampuffs.
“David Pollack says Clemson’s D is better than UM’s.”
Right now? I agree. The safety is a baddass and the DE can make all kinds of problems. They tackle well and make PLAYS.
Miami did that last week…let’s see if the D can keep it up this week.
Clemson like to throw it the TE and we all know how that’s worked out in the past…
That’s not to say I’m not excited about Miami’s D…I am. but I’d like to see them doing a couple of weeks in a row
Man, doing some research for my next Phil Steele article, and to say Clemson is confident is an understatement.
I said it before the season and i’ll say ti again, this defense was doing real well last year, with less talented players, so coming into this year, i knew the defense would be a whole lot better, based who were going to be the main rotating guys. There are not to many defenses right now that can say they are better than ours. You take away those interceptions by jacory agaisnt osu and our defense would’ve played a better game. in fact, i would’ve luv to see what ryan hill would’ve brought to the table against osu, dvd played to scared of posey.
That’s why osu came out firing short, so pryor could get his confidence up, and than they took the deep shot, with our offense, it just never sets a defense up, and like that ole saying goes “if i can see that from home” u gotta know the other team sees it. Against clemson, the play calling is going to be very vital. damien berry had success running against clemson last year, let’s make sure we establish a running game, i wouldn’t mind seeing us coming out running the ball 3 times straight, just to see if our o-line can set the tone, who gives a whoot about getting a 1st down, i ust want to see 3 straight solid running plays myself.
Than come out on the next drive and build off of that, we throw all these short passes, but it doesn’t set up the deep balls to good, and it doesn’t help create space for the runningbacks.
nice Break Down Cav. the roll out point is key. almost every passing highlight i can think of this year for Clemson includes Parker rolling out to the right.
I agree, Este. He hit on some tendencies.
For those of you that have reviewed the last two games, is J12 locking on to his primary? I don’t have DVR service at this moment.
So glad this day is coming to an end!
Go Canes!
Sometimes locking in on receivers, their are drills that can be done to help negate that tendency. Also, the one thing jacory needs to work on is not turning his head so much as to which direction he’s throwing the ball, as far as qb’s go, this guy makes the best throws on a consistent basis than any qb in college. He’s thrown several great passes this year already. Let’s start with that ohio st. game. The pass to aldarius johnson was sweet. The comeback route on the other hash mark to travis benjamin, the chase ford td. Than go to the pitt game, that pass to aldarius johnson, the rollout touchdown to travis benjamin, the pass to byrd over the middle right before taking a hit, the comeback route to travis benjamin again.
If jacory becomes more consistent, he’ll be the best pure passer to come thru UM.
Reason I ask is, Deandre McDaniel said he was going to pick off another pass from Jacory, b/c its the same old Jacory, same old Miami, schematically. Four players and one coach have said that already.
Calvin – great to see you back. CC – hang in there, my thoughts are with you.
Well, he’s right to a degree, but at the same time, if they play us in man coverage this year, they’re going to get anihilated early an often. Reason being, hankerson is better, as well as the other receivers, we get somebody to block at right tackle, and it’s going to be a long day for there secondary. The other thing, this is not the same defense from last year, if baldwin couldn’t get open, and if clemson is relying on passing to their tight-ends all game like last year, it’s going to be a long night for them.
Also, our d-line has gotten alot better since last year, and last year we played against a non-pressured kyle parker, but when he did get pressured, he was garbage. he got confidence because he was able to know that he could basically stand in the pocket all day, we’ll see how good parker is with this new looking d-line we have, i expect this game to be a good hard fought game, if we keep our turn-overs to 2 or less, we beat clemson by at least 2 or 3 touchdowns. This offense has way more potential than it’s shown thus far, and the defense is just getting started.
cmac i’m thinking should improve game by game, with dvd playing like his spot depending on it with ryan hill, the competition at that spot is going to force dvd to be aggressive for the rest of the year. I like randy starting ryan hill over dvd after that osu game. I’m looking for telemaque to make a statement this game, i’m never worried about ray ray making plays. We got more guys on this team now looking to making plays instead of hoping to make plays, makes a big difference.
This clemson team shouldn’t fear anybody, they’ll play hard, but kyle parker is going to be in for a long day come this game.
triple c, no doubt man, had to take care of some thang thangs, but it’s all good right now.
Wow, That arrogant MM01? any links?
well i don’t care if its the same old scheme, its about execution. that same old scheme put up a ton of rush and pass yards against Clemson last year.
Uchamps, here ya go…
http://www.thestate.com/2010/09/28/1485901/line-to-face-a-tall-task.html
read the reporter entries here on the left:
http://clemson.greenvilleonline.com/
If you have a Rivals subscription, take a look at what the players are saying.
Thanks MMo1!
Is it just me, or do the guys on Ghost Adventures give you the impression they might just be staging things a little bit?
Or am I just hoping that’s true because if it’s real then I’m going to start looking under my bed every night
• Coach Randy Shannon said Tuesday he’s unsure when or if Graig Cooper will play again this season, but UM is optimistic his ankle will be 100 percent at some point next month. “I imagine he wants to go pro” next spring instead of redshirting this season, said his father, Tino Thomas. “If he doesn’t get playing time this year, what would say he plays next year?”
For now, UM has decided not to redshirt Storm Johnson.
• Receivers took notice when Shannon publicly blamed Travis Benjamin for four of Jacory Harris’ six interceptions. “Balls in the air — we’ve got to make the play, no exception,” LaRon Byrd said. “If it’s a play we can’t make, we’ve got to bat it down.”
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/28/1847298_p2/less-scoring-could-elevate-lebrons.html#ixzz10slrZlVS
Truth, everything is staged on TV. There;s nothing less real than REALITY TV. It’s a total joke, like 99% of Hollywood.
MM01, I can see why they’d be confident. They’ll look at last year then at OSU this year. Bowers will look at Figs and RT in general. They probably don’t think we’ve improved much.
Which is exactly how we want them to think……
Truth,
I’ve read extensively on that subject. It interests me to say the least.
No need to look under your bed or in your closet… or is there?
You just gotta love a ghost that’ll say “I just slapped you b*tches”
LOL
Girls are b!tches.
Except Canechic and KL. I love you ladies!
You doing Ok, JSQ?
Truth,
Love Ghost Adventures! Those guys are bloody crazy. What most people do not realize is they film in total darkness with night vision cameras. Can you imagine doing that stuff in darkness? I would be terrified- and I don’t get scared easily.
I hope the Heat crush everyone.
slow blog . . . how ’bout 3 half-decent jokes from the tonight show:
- At the U.N., President Obama called on other countries to help us track down and eliminate radicals and extremists. But they told Obama, “Hey, the tea party is your problem, buddy.
- Lindsay Lohan failed another drug test. It’s one subject we thought she would be good at, but she keeps failing.
- On the “Today” show, President Obama said he supports having a longer school year. In response, Sasha and Malia announced they support Sarah Palin.
Girls are b!tches.
Except Canechic and KL. I love you ladies!
They are JSQ and especially when you get them all together at a convention.
Good Luck!
Those are funny Autumn!
[]_[]
http://www.wqam.com/index.php?page=347
JSQ husband says IF Miami can beat Clemson we wont loose any more games this year.
i’m a little late reading up on some other places . . . for those of you who are also late, definitely read another GREAT article on allcanes:
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
“Perspective: Breaking down week four…”
http://blog.allcanes.com/
3 decent articles on SS that i hadn’t seen:
Q and A with Clemson QB Kyle Parker
by: Steve Gorten September 28th, 2010 | 7:03 PM
Byrd: Receivers should fight for every pass
by: Steve Gorten September 29th, 2010 | 2:26 AM
McDaniel, Tigers hope to pick on Harris
by: Steve Gorten September 29th, 2010 | 4:46 AM
http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_college_hurricanes/
Clemson has only been tested once this year and failed the test…….Northern Alabama had 269 yards passing and 193 yards running with a 50% 3rd down conversion. Presbyterian managed 139 yards passing and 140 yards on the ground. Clemson’s defense is as porous as last year. If we take care of the ball we will dominate……..who the hell schedules “Presbyterian???”
Thanks for the email Canez1.
Yes they are JSQ! I feel your pain! :/
DAT, KH and I are separated for the time being. Shockey might have to move to the number one imaginary husband spot while KH works out his “issues” [read: until Ohio State loses and the world is right]
JSQ – you want Ohio taint to stay undefeated, at least towards the end of the season, with a couple of games left, then reevaluate. Think of your Canes opponents strenght of schedule – it counts. This is for the way outside chance that we’re still in it at the end of the year and don’t lose another game (the last part is very possible).
Cubed, you can take your logic and rational thinking elsewhere. I want them to lose every game, embarassingly, until the end of time. F SOS.
.
For those following Nicole, quoted from NOAA:
ALL TROPICAL STORM WARNINGS AND WATCHES FOR FLORIDA HAVE BEEN DISCONTINUED.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It looks like the forecasted shifted significantly to the east between 8 this morning and 11am. That’s the thing, these forecasts sometimes turn on a dime.
Read more, if interested:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT1+shtml/291452.shtml?
and
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at1.shtml?5-daynl?large#contents
JSQ – lmao
SOS??? Give me a clue
New blog up!
SOS= strength of schedule.
Have to turn off phone!
JSQ or MM01, y’all want me to write this now right?