ALL POINTS BULLETIN
MISSING PERSON’S REPORT – Clemson’s Football Team
LAST SEEN – 10/21/06 during demolition of GT
CONTACT Tammy Bowden, Clemson SC, with any information
As much as I enjoy a good joke at Tammy’s expense, I am actually shaking my head after Clemson’s BCS dreams have evaporated into the ether over the last two weeks. The team that was generally considered the best in the ACC has essentially disappeared after a thorough dismantling of GT. If you think that I am exaggerating, take a look at their conference rankings even after back-to-back defeats:
Not too shabby. Now let’s look a little closer look at how the season has unfolded so far:
Here are a few things that stand out to me:
– Clemson’s three losses are also the three worst games for their rushing offense. In fact, they are 0-3 when they were held to less than 150 net rushing yards.
– Clemson’s best two passing games also occurred in losses. (???)
– You can not really blame any of their losses on turnovers.
– Nearly 400 yards of offense against Maryland and four field goals to show for it. (Did they hire Mazzone as an offensive consultant?)
BC is ranked 12th in the nation in rushing defense and VT is no slouch at 23rd nationally…so having “bad� games against these two teams is not a huge surprise. But UMd is ranked 96th in the nation and 11th in the ACC. What happened last Saturday?
Obviously, offense is only half of the story. Here is the breakdown on the defensive side:
A few items of note:
Clemson is 0-3 when giving up over 300 yards of total offense. The fact that the three worst defensive games (based on yards allowed) resulted in three losses is not exactly a huge surprise. But how those yards were accumulated are:
It should come as no shock when I say that Frank Beamer prefers to grind out yardage on the ground and depend on his defense. However, when the VT rushing attack:
– Is ranked 77th nationally…even with a pretty easy schedule. (Total SOS ranked 59th)
– Only managed 117 yards rushing against UNC (rushing defense ranked #114)
– And somehow managed to scorch the ACC’s #2 rushing defense (#11 nationally) for 224 yards on the ground.
– I told some friends that I expected the VT-Clemson game to be over by half-time. I have never been so right and so wrong all at the same time.
Maryland’s passing offense ranks 10th in the conference and 92nd nationally. Against the nation’s 16th best pass defense (#2 in the ACC), Hollenbach had his best game of the year…23/34 for 247 yards through the air. …What’s up with that?
Did you notice that the Maryland game was in Death Valley?
FINAL THOUGHTS
I appreciate the kind remarks after last week’s GT preview. I would really like to do something that good this week for the Clemson game….but I have no idea what to say. Which Clemson team is going to show up?
– The one that destroyed GT on both sides of the ball?
– Or the one that let a weak rushing attack bowl them over and then followed that up by letting a weak passing attack have their best game of the year?
I am not sure that State can beat either Clemson team…but it is clear that State needs to put as many defenders in the box as it takes to stop Clemson’s rushing attack. Clemson’s receivers and QB do not quite match up to what State faced last week and if they don’t stop Clemson’s dual rushing threats, then it stands no chance at all.
State’s OL has to protect Evans as well as it did against GT. Overall, the offense has to find something that works…and then stick with it. I don’t care if State rushes the ball 50 times or passes it that many. Just don’t move the ball all the way to the red zone and then try to do something different!
