SB Nation - Marquan Jones

Clemson - UVA game film review

DrB — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:45:54 -0000

More photos » by Richard Shiro - AP

This week's film review will be focused a little more on the defense and I will cover every offensive series but not in-depth. I see no big or very descriptive plays to pull out this week either, other than their trick plays. See the end for the summarizing thoughts. Please comment and ask questions on what you dont understand, these take a long time to do well. The goal here is to look for both good plays and bad technique. If theres anything that you would like to see or have explained, just ask. (edited with Tigernet videos)

1st play of the game on defense, UVA botches the handoff. That was on the RB, he never secured it.

Offensive drive, Clemson takes the ball on the 24. All zone runs from CJ. Diehl doesn't quite make the mesh point and fumbles, recovered by Austin. He's just not used to getting the ball. 4th and 2 call, shotgun set and Parker looks to throw on a bootleg. There was no one open and he runs it out of bounds. We ran the ball all the way down here, I would've spread the formation out to throw a dropback pass, or run inside.....but running inside seems to be the better call given that CJ ran the ball well. I would've gone for it instead of kicking however.

No points. Turnover at UVA 5.

Defensive drive: Rashawn Jackson pushes 3 guys forward for extra yardage. In a Nickel set, Gilchrist is in the nickelback and is late charging into a gap when the back comes to him, for a 1st down. Maye charges into the correct gap on 3rd down, but misses the tackle, goes for 3yds, but we still force a punt.

2nd CU Drive starts at the UVA 48. Harper gets nothing because McClain can't budge a guy. Deihl made a great block on the isolation play. Ford on a corner route and slipped for 17. Xavier Dye was open on a fly route in the endzone behind him. Parker hits Allen on a seam route for the TD. Parker looked off the FS to keep him still, but the FS should've made this play. Allen gives a salute, to the fans on the Hill and the military/ROTC guys in the endzone. He didnt even look at the UVA guys when he did it. Bullshit penalty. 7-0 CU. 4 plays 48 yards

Penalty forced Clemson to kick from our 30. UVA returns it 34 yards to our 45. Huge penalty from Ron Cherry's stellar crew.

Defensive drive from the CU 45. Can't stop the Wildcat against a terrible run offense. LBs out of position, not attacking gaps. I see a marginal hold on Bowers. Simpson is merely waiting on his blockers on delayed runs. Maye is held by the Guard on a 14 yd Power play to the CU 2, but he took that blocker head-on and shouldn't have. Still, he did try to turn his shoulder into him. McDaniel and Conner got their feet tangled up, and KA got handled by a RB. Weak KA, weak. Sewell walks into the endzone for the TD on a naked bootleg. Ricky Sapp was on that side and should've had containment, as should DeAndre McDaniel. The entire 2nd level bit on the play-action. 7-7, 6 plays 45 yards

Penalty set this up, but UVA had not been much of a Wildcat team that I'd seen earlier. They changed up their schemes on us and the Defense looked totally unprepared for it.

3rd CU drive starts at our 29. CJ takes a zone run for 14. Dalton Freeman forgets to snap the ball and we get a false start. Ford on a jailbreak/ruboff for a first down, then a comeback route for a first down. End of the 1st QTR. PA pass to Spiller on a wheel route for 26. This play was basically the same play we scored with against Georgia Tech earlier, but CJ was lined up at RB and there was play-action. Ford ran a Post to clear the underneath, and Ashe ran a Dig on the backside. CJ takes a zone with orbit motion for the score. 14-7, 6 plays 71 yards.

Defensive drive starts at the UVA 17. Goodman late on a tackle. Thompson and Goodman get penetration but cant run down Sewell. CLEAR holding call on Goodman there to make him a step late, right in front of Cherry. Screen is well played by Conner and Chavis for no gain. Zone Trap for 3 yard gain on Sapp. Sewell is caught by a backside blitz and throws off his back foot to a wide open receiver, Maye's man. Maye gets the late hit, and he deserved it. Another stupid penalty on Maye in consecutive weeks. UVA runs a Hanford Bunch set, Vic Hall is hit on a flanker screen, then throws back once the defense comes over to make the tackle on Hall. He had all the blockers. Overpursuit by the entire defense. Backside should've kept some containment by the End. Next play is an end-around pass to a wide open TE in the corner of the endzone. Nobody picked up the TE on his release after he initially blocked the DE. Secondary again bit on the initial motion. Chancellor went with the right guy, the LBs responsibility is run-first here. I think this is on the Free Safety. 14-14, 7 plays 83 yards

4th CU Drive starts at the CU 39. LB comes untouched around McClain and hits the mesh point, but doesnt know who to tackle. McClain apparently going to the DE with the RT headed to the OLB. I wonder what the hell McClain is thinking, in zone you block head-on when you are covered, you dont zone step right. Borderline late hit on Parker, not called. Marquan Jones catches a bubble, where has he been? Parker threads a needle into triple coverage on Palmer, great throw but a little late. Harper takes two Isolations for good yards. Ford gets an end-around, same play we ran against NC State last week. Good blocks by Palmer and Ellington downfield. Parker throws one away when the rush gets to him, but I thought everyone was covered when I saw it live. He might've been able to thread one in the back of the endzone. McClain again whipped on CJ's subsequent run that gets stopped. Dye can't get a foot down, incomplete. Throw was high. Jackson FG 17-14, 13 plays 57 yards

Antoine McClain is pissing me off. I don't think highly of Walker yet but McClain makes him look like a Pro Bowler.

Defensive drive starts from the 6. UVAs returner cant catch footballs, and didnt all day. Simpson hesitates going into his hole. Bowers holds and controls his blocker. On 3rd & 11 Vic Hall runs a great route and great throw for a 1st. Maye forces the fumble and Chancellor recovers at the 24.

5th CU drive at the 24. Parker blitzed and throws it away. Screen pass batted down, Parker didnt move his feet at all. He finds Ford in the endzone on the next play for 24 yards, deep post route. Parker was behind the LOS by a half yard. 24-14 CU, 3 plays 24 yards

Defensive drive starts from the UVA 20. 1:52 on the clock. They run one play, and let the clock run. On 2nd down we call timeout with 1:05 left. Dabo trying to get more? They run short for the 1st down. They want to run the clock off, but since we cant get off blocks and get tripped, they get 22 yards on one play with 40 seconds left and get a shot for the endzone. Burd drops a pass. Butler playing soft and they get out of bounds on an out/hitch. Conner gets through his hole too late and the back gets the 1st down. Brewer beaten on a return route for 13. Then they finally take their first timeout with 8 secs left. A wheel route to Simpson, Hall not there to help Maye. I think he should be but the post route kept him occupied long enough. Perfect throw and catch. 24-21 9 plays 80 yards

They weren't even trying to score, they wanted to run the clock out. We called timeout at 1:05 on the UVA 27. I know what Dabo is thinking, and don't blame him. We could get a punt return TD or good field position at midfield or better and put this game on ice. He has faith in his defense to stop them, they couldnt.

Halftime

Defense: Caught by tricks and misdirection. I thought we were more disciplined than that, but we overpursued, didnt get off blocks, lost containment on the edges, and had blown coverages by the Safeties. The Cavs deserve credit for doing things that they hadnt all year with trick plays, and they made a great catch at the end of the half. If they'd stuck with their conventional offense, i doubt they'd have scored twice.

UVA 230 yards, 114 passing 116 rushing

Offense: nothing much to complain about other than McClain's missed blocks. Very efficient for Parker, good running game, no drops. Spiller 9 carr, 39 yards, 3 rec 31 yards.

CU 224 yards, 152 passing, 72 rushing

3rd qtr

1st CU drive starts at CU 22. Zone read by Parker for 19. Spiller steps out on a flare route, looks hurt. Parker overthrows a deep post to Ford. Parker misses Spiller underneath, Spiller didnt seem to be looking for the ball to come to him. Parker had to throw it since they were running a twist into the gap, shouldve waited anotehr half second. Punt.

Spiller seemed totally unenthused with being out there after that flare route catch.

D: 3 & out, finally. I knew they wouldnt score again at this point.

2nd CU drive starts from the CU 34. Ellington is in at RB. Sprint-draw PA to Ford for 28 yards. Dye on an out for 13, his foot was down. Ron couldnt screw us. Ellington inside zone with orbit motion for 13, then hard running and good push by the left side for the TD. 31-21 CU 6 plays 66 yards

D: 3 & out. They go back to the Wildcat with Vic Hall, and we manage to jump into the gaps and get free from blocks off the corner. KA sacked Sewell, Conner NAILED Vic Hall within the 5 yd contact zone. Same situation that Maye got called a PI for last week.

3rd CU drive from our 40. Spiller back in. Rendrick bulldozes Dowling for a 1st down, where has that been? Harper 5 tough yards on an Iso. Cloy playing some RG here. Spiller stopped on some zone runs. Parker's pass to Ford in the back of the endzone is tipped by a Robber, or it would've been 6. Jackson FG 34-21, 9 plays 34 yards

D: 3 & out. Sack by Cumbie. End of 3rd quarter. Missed tackle on the completion to Burd, appeared to be McDaniel but Maye got over.

4th CU drive from our 33. 3 & out. Spiller on a sweep for 2, well defended. Taylor tackled shy of 1st down, Spiller knocked for loss on a Power. Looked like the RT in on this play missed Collins, who blew up the play. There were some backups in up front. Punt.

D: 3 & out. Good disciplined pursuit up front, good LB play. Andre Branch has a sack and lets him free, review shows him down. How Ron Cherry missed that I dont know, he was RIGHT behind him, not 3 yards away and looking at his feet. Again the booth ref isnt in on Ron's shenanigans.

5th CU drive from the UVA 40. Spiller zone for 1. Inside guys not moving anyone there. Hairston missed his man on a ruboff screen to Ford. Parker has ample time to find a receiver on 3rd & 4 PA, and doesnt see anyone. There was someone open on the backside but Parker never looked, but to the playside no one was really open. Jackson Missed 52yd FG.

I would've gone for this first down at their 35. I believe we could've made it if it was a little swing pass to Spiller.

Defensive drive from the UVA 35. Sapp is held, and Sewell finds a wheel route to Jones, matched on Gilchrist for 38. Rennie Moore sacks Sewell, intentional grounding call for loss of 17. Sewell is sacked on 3rd & 28, but Conner gets a personal foul on a helmet-to-helmet contact. I think its total bullshit. Conner is coming at Sewell, and he drops just before Conner gets there so it became helmet-chest contact. Conner's head hit Sewells shoulder pad and vice versa. Conner makes up for it by charging up the B gap and making a TFL, Gilchrist knocks a pass down in the seam on good coverage. Chancellor there in coverage on 4th down pass, and knocks it away. Turnover on downs.

6th CU drive, the offensive line has been shifted to more backups the last 3 drives, and thats the primary reason we can't run the football. Lambert doesnt feel like blocking on a screen, but they played it well. Punt.

Defensive drive from the UVA 32. Sapp and Maye finally get Sewell down for a sack after Maye missed him in the backfield, Burd gets a deep cross for a first down to our 41, Chavis misses a sack when he had him cleanly. Campbell and the nickelback both blitz and Campbell brings him down. Campbell knocks the next pass away from Vic Hall. Rennie Moore gets another sack, good jump and technique. Turnover on downs.

Clemson takes a knee. End of game

Summarizing thoughts

Defense didn't blitz as much as I expected early, they were on their heels. In the 2nd half I think we blitzed a little more, but it was predominantly better play by the defensive line getting off blocks and shooting the gaps. LBs played better, particulary Conner. Chancellor was excellent in coverage, and went unmentioned because of it. I knew Steele would shut it down in the 2nd half.

Bowers probably got in on 10-15 plays tops.

Offensively we just executed, theres not much to say. Route running was ok that I saw, blocking was good in the 3rd quarter but fell off in the 4th when we put in the backups. Jacoby Ford had a great day, he pretty much returned every kick and had 100+ yards receiving.

Kyle Parker didnt miss many throws at all, much better day for him in terms of efficiency.

Red zone issues remain.

I was just disappointed we didnt leave the 1st team OL in there to block for CJ and let him break one. I think he lost something after that flare pass, and he looked tired afterwards. The 2nd team had a noticable dropoff.

Special teams was sound, but not spectacular. We hit the EXTRA POINTS, but kickoff coverage was a bit lax a couple times. I'm surprised we didnt recover a kickoff fumble since their returner sucks.

FULL SCREEN VERSION

Clemson vs Coastal Carolina 49-3, Film review and Drive Chart

DrB — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:05:46 -0000

More photos » by Mary Ann Chastain - AP

Browse more photos »

Clemson Tigers stats

Chanticleers vs Tigers boxscore

1st Drive-Start running the football, and have to call a timeout for having the wrong personnel on the field two plays into the game. Mentally not in the game. They are showing Cover 2 Zone. Parker scrambles for a first. Ford catches a bubble screen for a loss, Dye didnt block the man across from him. If he had, it would've been a nice gain down the sideline but Ford cut back and got tackled. The pass to Barry down the seam route to Barry was underthrown. Parker scrambles for another 1st. Parker slips for a loss, but his knee never touched the ground. Pass to Clear is jumped by the CB playing the flat zone in Cover 2, Clear should've faught for that ball better, but he should've also been blocked by Hairston who was late getting over. They had the right defense called for it.

R, R-penalty, P, R, P, P, P-i, R, R, R, R, P-INT

The offensive line looked ok on this drive, decent push on zone runs, but the offense just didnt execute well enough.

D-3&out, showing Cover 1. A penalty for illegal substitution gives CCU a 1st down. Again, not mentally there, but another 3 & out is forced.

2nd drive-End around fake to Ford with Harper taking it inside doesnt work because McClain cant handle his man. Harper takes a lead play to the right side, had a cutback lane open, but went to the designated hole behind McClain on 3rd & 1 and was stopped short. Why no Spiller in here? Its not like he had to run on the punt, it was kicked out of bounds. Parker stares down Dye down the sideline on a vertical route, and threw it without looking back to the other side of the field. Play-action TD pass to Ford on a corner route probably should not have been thrown, he was covered but made a play. The SE was open on a In-route, and Barry was slightly open on a corner route underneath. Probably should've hit the SE. 7-0

R, P, R, , R-offsides penalty, P-i, PA P, R,PA P-TD. 7 plays 62 yds.

D-Crezdon Butler had excellent instincts to break on a bubble screen and clocked that WR. 3&out.

Spencer Adams gets a push in the back on the punt return, and really didnt need to.

3rd Drive-End around to Ford, Taylor makes a decent block (but didnt hold it) and we should've gotten a horse collar tackle. End of 1st QTR. Ellington in, why not Spiller? Dumpoff PA pass to Allen was overthrown, wouldve gotten a 1st down easily. Rollout pass to Ellington in the flat is thrown a little behind him and he cant handle it. No touch on these passes. 4th &2 pass to Clear, who was NOT open at all, gets a PI call and a 1st down. If he wanted to hit Clear on that play, he should've led him over the shoulder. WR Pass Ford to Dye gets the TD. 14-0

R, R, R, PA P-i, P-i, PI penalty, 23 yd TD pass from Ford. Well executed play.

D-playing Nickel, Cover 2 against these 3/4 wide sets. I see some FLEX front. We shoud've gotten an intentional grounding call, the RB #22 was slipping off the RT, but Childers threw the ball towards the left side of his Center. He wasnt even looking at that RB. Crezdon Butler picks off the next pass and brings it back 47 yds. Ball was underthrown, and the guy was covered, I'm not sure what he was looking at. The safety was right behind Butler on the guy.

4th Drive-Spiller gets a chunk on cutback zone rush, since again the right side cant budge people. Takes the next play in untouched on a zone run for the TD. 21-0

D-Replay didnt show a fumble as being conclusive when Goodman and McDaniel converged on #22. Looked like his right knee came down at the same instant the ball came out. See some 30 fronts with a Dime set. 3 & out.

5th Drive-The INT was a PA half-roll and it hung up. Parker could've hit Jaron Brown on the post at the instant the ball was thrown. I was wrong earlier, this one is more on Parker than Brown. The ball could've hit him in stride, however Brown couldve stayed on his FEET to catch this, and stopped running when he didnt need to. The defender had given up the inside position and stood behind him to pick it off.

R,PA P-INT

D-CCU gets their first 3rd down conversion because KA and Cumbie missed tackles. Brandon Thompson blows up a screen. Childers scrambled again up the middle on a 3rd down for a 1st, Maye got blocked out by the Guard and Chavis got double-teamed, it was a 3-man ODD front with an outside blitzer. CLEMSON STILL GETS EATEN UP BY QB DRAWS. Watch what Christian Ponder does this week to us if he's able to play.

6th Drive-noticed Cloy in at LG, Norris at RG, Lambert at LT. Walker makes a good seal block to break Harper free on a big gain, as did Taylor on the outside matched on the DE. Rendrick Taylor runs right down the seam and lets the ball come to him instead of using his hands, and it ricochets off his chest pads. Offensive line doing better pushing them off the ball. Pass overthrown to Allen, again didnt extend his hands.

P-i, R, R, P-i, P-i

D-1st down run when Clemson was playing with only 2 down linemen, both DEs were not set but stemming pre-snap, not sure what front call that was. Clock runs out.

Halftime

CCU- 87 total yards, 74 on the ground, only 2 completed passes

Clemson-204, 111 on the ground

D-they got the first down on 4th &1 sneak, Thompson was playing a Shade Tilt, and charged right into the A-gap, and the QB ran right around him behind the LG. Next set of downs goes 3 & out.

1st Drive-Ellington on some zone running getting good yardage, then takes a sweep off-tackle for the TD 55 yards. Good blocking all around. 28-0 R, R, R

D-QB keeper is stopped by Gilchrist on a CAT blitz with Sapp. Looks like the QB is cramping up badly. 3 & out.

2nd Drive-WILLY KORN comes in. OL continuing their good blocking, good push. Grant in at LG. Good block by Barry on the perimeter to spring Korn for a 1st down scramble. Pass to Brown for the TD was all on him, a little inside screen, pisspoor tackling by CCU, great blocking by Marquan Jones. 35-0

R, R, R, P, R, P-TD

D-first pass picked off by Rashard Hall playing free, returned inside the 10. He just walked over and the ball came to him down the middle on a vertical route. Watch Andre Branch make a great block into the endzone.

3rd drive-two run plays, Korn takes it in from 4 out. 42-0

D-Clemson running 2nd teamers out there. 3&out.

4th Drive starts inside their 40. Harper takes zone cutback to the 20. A screen pass to B. Ford in the flat gets a few, J.Grant looked slow getting over to block for the screen. Harper takes it in from 3 yards. 49-0 Clemson still good run blocking inside.

R, P, R, P, R, R-TD.

Kickoff returned for a TD but called back on a push in the back. Pitiful tackling. The push in the back was not needed to spring him free.

3rd QTR ends during next defensive set. 3&out.

5th Drive-Guys way down the depth chart are playing on the Line now. Korn misses an easy throw to Watson with some pressure in his face. 3 & out.

D is getting pushed around INSIDE through much of the rest of the 4th quarter. Poor play by the interior linemen but Corico Hawkins did make a few great plays, he has outstanding speed. Tackling was poor and bad angles taken, which you can expect from the backups. They ate much of the 4th Qtr clock on their scoring drive, 49-3.

Not going to continue drive-by-drive analysis. My earlier impression about the OL blocking wasn't quite right, we did block ALOT better after the first drive, but there was still some crispness that was missing throughout the day. Mostly execution problems and POOR touch by Parker on some throws. Not an efficient day for him by any means, which I hope was because of the wet ball. Honestly I would've liked to see us go no-huddle again and work on that for next week, when I'm sure it will be needed and useful against that FSU defense.

Emphasis clearly shifted to the WRs in the passing game, and I wanted to see the younger guys get involved, but it shows in the execution. More fucking screens, more pre-Wake Forest playcalling. This game was useful in getting some catches for alot of young guys, but still I wonder.....where the hell is Marquan Jones? Where was Dwayne Allen today?

FULL SCREEN VERSION

Clemson-Miami Film Review

DrB — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:58:29 -0000

More photos » by Lynne Sladky - AP

about 1 month ago: Clemson wide receiver Jacoby Ford, right, scores the game-winning touchdown as Miami defensive back DeMarcus Van Dyke (8) defends in overtime during a NCAA football game in Miami Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009. Clemson won 40-37. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

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Read below for video clips and review of each drive of our win against Miami. We wont cover the Press conference again this week but will be looking at the coordinator and coaches interviews.

1st Drive

Clemson moves the ball well here. A little no-huddle up-tempo. I think the first call on the end-around is ok, they are expecting a run inside. A

n arrow route to Spiller nets about 30 yards, he was matched on a LB. Then Spiller comes out already for Harper? It was the same play as the first one but a handoff. Parker leads Ford out-of-bounds, again.
The OL is already giving Parker tremendous time in the pocket. An inside zone play fails because McClain/Walker cant move people out of the way. Spiller catches a short pass and comes out again. Miami blitzes and it looks like either Dye or Parker dont have the right play in mind, looked like Dye should've cut inside on a post and instead ran a fly route. Jackson missed FG.

R, P, R, P-i, P, R, PA P, P-i

Miami starts at their 24.

Conner misses a tackle by being out of position. They are simply running the ball between the tackles and pounding us inside, our guys are not getting off blocks. Hankerson makes a tremendous one-handed catch on a PA. Another PA pass was caught out-of-bounds in our red zone. Another slant route by Hankerson gets a 1st, looks like Chancellor was out of position on his pattern read. Conner comes inside on a blitz and forces an early throw that ricochets off Hankerson's hand over the middle and right into McDaniels arms.

2nd CU drive starts on the 32.

Spiller takes a sweep for a first down. Parker throws a ball away when he had Spiller open underneath, and all day to throw. Intentional grounding is called because McClain decided to just not move his feet and get leverage on the DL, Hairston was also beat on the speed rush. Landon Walker holds on a pass to Ellington that gets us back into reasonable distance range, then a clip between McClain and Harper pushes us further back to 2nd & 49. Ellington takes a handoff for about 4. Spiller on sideline. Zimmerman killed a punt to the UM 34.

R, P-i, R, R that werent nullified by penalty.

Defensive drive

Collier gets 20yds when Alexander gets pushed out of the way. Bowers and Cumbie run downfield to make the tackle. McDaniel was up on the other side of Alexander's blocker and Maye couldnt read the play it seemed. A sprint option play to Cooper for the first was very-well covered, but he still caught it. End of 1st QTR. They have enough success on a few short plays to get into FG range. 3-0 Miami

3rd CU drive starts at our 38.

Jacoby slips after a catch of 12yds, and probably couldve had another 5-7. Clemson ran a good bit of I-formation and had one of Spiller's best gains of the day on the rush on an Iso, great block by Diehl. They seemed to go away from it later.

Harper is stopped on the next lead play, and Miami run blitzes on a Power O play and the DE hits the mesh between Parker and Spiller for the fumble.

R, P, R, PA P-i, R, R-fumble.

Defensive drive

Kevin Alexander really blows up a FB screen play, good job staying out there or he'd have gotten 10-20 yards. Great coverage by Chancellor on Hankerson to stop the drive. Defense forces punt of 47.

4th Clemson drive starts at our 28.

Ford runs a skinny post, taking up the deep safety, and Spiller comes out on a wheel route right down the sideline but Parker leads him too much. Would've been 6. David Smith is playing RT, and getting beat a little by speed rush, he needs to move his feet better. Mason Cloy is in at RG. Clemson still unable to generate running game from Gun sets. We are not fooling anybody. Palmer nets 18 over the middle on 3rd & long. Marquan Jones drops an easy screen because he turned his head upfield, would've been a 1st. Clemson calls a 2nd TO because they cant get the play in on time. Great catch by Allen on another 3rd & long. Slip screen to Palmer for another 1st. Palmer makes a great one-handed catch and TD on a play where he was lined up at RB. 7-3 Clemson

P-i, P, R, R, P, PA P, P-i, P, P, R, PA P. 11 plays 72 yards.

Defensive drive, Miami starts on their 20.

Miami gets a first down in 3 plays. Clemson blows up a screen with a backside blitz, then Miami hits Collier in a shallow cross for another 1st down. They hit the TE on a drag route for 8. Gilchrist comes in unblocked on the backside with Maye to sack Harris. Hankerson runs a post and beats Maxwell for a chunk while Sapp was held. Poor tackling in the secondary and bad angles by the LBs becoming more and more apparent here as they break one for the TD. On the TD play our guys were all in the box against a lead play, and once he gets to the next level he's gone. 10-7 Miami, 10 plays 80 yards 4:24.

CJ does what he does on the kickoff, watch Jacoby stay with it, great effort. 14-10 Clemson.

Defensive drive, Miami starts in good field position after some missed tackles on the kickoff.

Miami calls a run play to start, then a timeout which baffled me. The next play is a handoff to Cooper that gets inside our 40. Terrible tackling in the secondary and Cumbie has to run him down 20 yards downfield. Another timeout is called. I don't see what they are doing here with the clock management. They then put 12 men on the field after the TO to push them out of FG range. A deep ball to the TE down the seam in the endzone was thrown outside and the receiver expected it inside, but he was wide open. Harris throws one up, is rushed a little, and Rashard Hall picks it off.

Halftime

Miami 102 rushing, 112 passing, 5/7 on 3rd down

Clemson 22 rushing, 129 passing, 3/5 on 3rd down

Kick is a touchback. Hankerson is hit on the first play for 22 against zone coverage on a deep crossing route. Butler is all over him 2 plays later to break up a 1st down catch. Epps catches an out route on a TEXAS play for a 1st when Sapp and Bowers fail to execute a ME stunt properly. Chancellor gets flagged for PI on a bullshit call. A missed tackle inside by McDaniel gets them 7 yards. They hit the TE after a TO in the flat inside the 5. Clemson has mixed in a 3-4 front and I'm seeing a little bit of the 46 "Bear" front. A stupid formation call puts them back at the 5 from the 1 yard line, nullifying a TD. Harris hits Hankerson on a shallow cross on the next play and he walks in for the TD. 17-14 Miami. 9 plays 80 yards. Another long drive against the defense. Tackling and bad positions and angles, and the use of crossing routes attacks Man and matchup zone well.

1st Clemson drive starts on our 32

Spiller doesnt hit the hole on the outside zone play for short gain. Spiller catches a ball in the flat, then a toss sweep is strung out to force a 3&Out.

R, P, R

Miami starts on their 17 after a great punt and coverage.

Maye has a big pass breakup. Clemson calls a blitz and Maye sacks Harris right up the A-gap. The RB tried to block him and he ran right through it. 3&out. Punt was short and nearly hits Jacoby Ford on the bounce. It appeared to me like it hit the Miami player #50 Sharpton. GET OUT OF THE WAY GUYS.

2nd Clemson drive starts on the 27

Reverse end-around to Ford gets a 1st down. Good block by Palmer on the safety to spring it. On PA, Spiller finds the endzone on another wheel route. The LB covering him appeared to be gimpy in coverage and shouldnt have been out there. 56 yards. 21-17 Clemson

R, R, P

Miami gets the ball and fumbles, forced by Sapp and Maye.

3rd Clemson drive starts at the 30 or so and Parker has Ford open in the endzone, and doesnt see him. He hits spiller on a comeback in the flat for a short gain. On the next play he is pressured and grabbed by #57, who beat Hairston, then holds the ball out away from his body trying to throw it away, and its stripped and returned for a TD. 24-21 Miami

Clemson had the shot for the kill, and handed the game right back to them.

P, P/fumble

Miami has to kick from their 15, and Spiller is still huffing on the sideline. 4th drive starts on the 27. Ellington takes a screen for a 1st. Hairston and Austin did well to get out and block downfield. Palmer stops over the middle and gets a 1st. An audible by Parker to a rush play gets stopped by a blitz. D. Allen catches another in the seam for a big 1st down inside the 30. Spiller finally comes back in for Ellington and only nets 3 on his first carry. Then the wide open play to Ellington....jesus. How could he be any more open? Throw was high, catch shouldve been made anyway. JUST LOB IT OUT THERE PARKER. Next throw is a little behind Dye, but their DB makes a good play fo force incompletion. Jackson FG 24-24.

P, R, P, R, P, P, R, P-i, P-i

Benton kills another kickoff for a touchback.

Branch destroys a reverse for a loss of 14. Good discipline by him and not lose containment. End of 3rd Qtr. Miami gives Harris plenty of time against a blitz and he hits his WR on a dig for the 1st down to get out of the hole. On the next play J. James runs to the Clemson 25. Maye charged up into a no-hole, Conner charged into his responsibility and Gilchrist was out of position to make that tackle after reading his key.

Two plays strung out and stopped. Harris sacked by Sapp to force the 51 yd FG. 27-24 Miami

5th Clemson drive starts at the 16.

Palmer catches the first play in the flat and gets his clock cleaned by #50 leading with his helmet the ENTIRE WAY. That should be a penalty. About a 20 yard gain. Austin can't pull over to get a block on the DE and the pass to Ford is incomplete. Basically a counter-trap PA fake pass. Same blocking assignment on the next play, and again Austin cant get over to the DE on a QB Draw. Parker scrambles for 4. McClain and the Center cant block the DT on the next play and Parker has to throw it away. Punt

P, P-i, R, R, P-i

Miami starts on the 15, first play is picked off by McDaniel and returned for TD. 31-27 Clemson. Watch McDaniel read his eyes, Harris never saw him. Maye should have blocked #4.

Bad kickoff tackling gets Miami the ball at their 31. Rashard Hall comes up to stop the run into the alley, and leaves Chancellor on an island for the 69yd TD. 34-31 Miami.

6th Clemson drive starts on the 31.

Allen catches a pass in the flat for 6, then Spiller busts a 48 yarder on an inside 34 zone.

Harper is nailed in the backfield on a screen that couldve gone BAD, then a delayed screen to Harper on the next play gets close to a first down. Harper takes a lead play for the first & goal. Diehl fails to catch the first pass in the flat, great call but throw was a bit high because Parker didnt set his feet. Miami strings out the next 36 Iso to Spiller. Clemson calls a Timeout to tell Parker NOT to turn the ball over and throw it away if no one is open. Parker forces the pass into double coverage to Allen for the Phillips pick-touchback. Should've been a tie ballgame here, they give us an opportunity and we choke.

P, R, P, P, R, P-i, R, P-INT.

Defense comes up with a big stop. 3&out. I'm surprised they didnt run a PA pass but they had considerable success running the football inside.

7th Clemson drive starts at the CU 40.

Spiller still off the field to start the next drive. Screen nets 9. Really surprised at how well we're executing screens against Miami. A toss to Spiller gets close to another 1st, Miami strung it out well. Spiller is tackled just shy of the 1st on 3rd down, then we line up in the I and Harper gets the 1st down. I'm so glad we are showing the I-formation so much today. Ashe gets a 1st on the next play. Harper takes a 34 Zone for 8 yards or so, then we screw up the clock management. Play ends with :20 seconds on the clock, and we walk up and try to clock it with :08. 12 seconds wasted before we had to take the TO. We would've had time to run at least one more play and then take a TO. Jackson FG on 2nd down, 34-34.

P, R, R, R, P, R, P, R

Kickoff ends regulation. OVERTIME

Clemson wins toss, plays defense. A stretch play goes for 19. Our LBs got blocked out. Another play goes inside the 5. Bowers got a hand on the RB off-tackle on the next play and McDaniel made the stop on 2nd & Gl. Gilchrist nearly picks off a Harris pass on 3rd down, and it appeared that he was trying to throw it away. FG 37-34 Miami

Parker throws the first PA pass away, looked like Spiller didnt get out in his flat route. A handoff to Spiller gets nothing on 2nd &10. Then Jacoby seals the deal. PA P-I, R, P.

40-37

Defense: Dabo's teleconference showed that nearly 300 of Miami's yards came on 10 plays. There were just too many of them today. Why? Poor tackling on a fast back or receiver will kill you. Bad angles and being out of position will do the same.

Pass coverage was not that bad. Miami used crossing routes to attack the man/matchup zones and with speedy receivers they can be lethal. Matchup zones pass off one receiver to the next defender and there are instances where he is uncovered as he slips to the next defender's zone. Add a missed tackle or bad angle and you have a 15-20 yard gain. Hankerson excels at getting open.

DeAndre McDaniel and Brandon Maye both attributed it to confusion with Miami’s unbalanced line.

“With a lot of stuff me and Marcus (Gilchrist) lined up wrong,” McDaniel said. “Linebackers lined up wrong.

“There were a lot of crazy sets with the eight end as a tackle and two tackles and a guard on the other side. … It took the linebackers out of position a lot. On some plays, the safety and linebacker would be in the same gap and leave a gap wide open.”
“We weren’t getting lined up correctly, which forced some players to play in the wrong gap. It was things we did that caused those big runs they had.

“They did a lot with their formation, creating an unbalanced and putting in a tight end and an extra tackle on the back side, which forces us to have to settle down a little bit and pay more attention to their formation and get in the right gaps. They did a good job with that.”

What he refers to as an unbalanced formation was especially true when Miami lined up in the red zone.

Run defense was abysmal. Often we would have someone able to make a stop, and they'd miss a tackle. Also, our LBs are just average. Maye charges up without reading his keys and gets himself blocked out by attacking the wrong gap. Conner is a better LB with better instincts but was weak in coverage today. Andrews subbed for Alexander in passing downs and was par at best. Secondary support and tackling was worse than the LB corps, even worse angles and I'm not happy with the effort to tackle.

Offense: Zero holes opening up. Spiller got 18 on one play and 48 on another, and that was basically our inside running game aside from a few clutch carries by Harper. Its not that they are just missing assignments, its that they dont move anybody. Only the left side can do it.

Parker-a few bonehead mistakes typical of a freshman, then good reads and plays. I don't think Miami's pass coverage in the middle, particularly their LBs, was good at all. Their corners did manage to contain Ford, but big plays to Spiller and the TEs were against LBs. Our guys are now catching the football too.

Pass blocking gets an A, considering the speed of the line they faced. David Smith got beat on a speed rush, Hairston as well, Austin failed to get over on some counter-trap blocking, but it was still good. McClain needs a foot up his ass at times though.

Playcalling was good, I saw 2 or 3 I would not have run, and I still think we run so poorly out of the shotgun that it needs to be re-evaluated in gameplanning. Good use of PA and the TEs however.

MIAMI highlights, or defensive lowlights if you want to call it that. Clemson highlights from ShoelessCU below.