Saturday September 26, 2009

Impressions before looking at the film, TCU

I do hope all the idiots on Mange Board will shutup about TCU not being able to recruit better than us, and therefore how badly we would defeat them. What you saw was a well-coached team and coaching makes a difference, and they just outplayed us in the 2nd half of this game. We did not play well enough on offense to win.

I'm sure several idiots will say "well they didnt impress me", but if you can't see how well they play coverage and pressure the QB after this game then you need to watch more football. Their offense found a way to move the ball on us. It doesnt make any difference whether they impress, they won.

I'm aware that the first TD was setup by a fluke play, and no I don't believe they'd have driven down to score, but it happened and shouldnt have mattered if we had taken care of business. If Jackson had hit his FG, we'd have kicked the ball at the 2min mark and won 16-14, so the blame is on ourselves and not 'chance'. You cannot put the loss on Jackson either, because the offense's job is to get 6, and they didnt get the job done.

I don't give Dabo a pass for losses, but the team didnt quit and I didn't see us get outcoached, except in the Napier vs. Patterson arena. Still, he's 6-5 now and this team doesnt make clutch plays. If I put blame on him directly for this game, its for his WRs not being taught how to get open.

-I won't say they whipped us, but they handled our defensive front well in this game. We didnt dominate, they didnt dominate. We did not get enough pressure on blitzes and our guys were just a hairs-breadth off on pass coverage, but some plays could've been made in the secondary and were not.

Defensively, I think we really lost the game only because we couldn't stop a simple zone read play. I did not expect Dalton to run as well as he did, though I knew he could scramble. This really was the only frustration I had in watching us play defense and we'll look at the defensive breakdowns this week on the blog. The play is designed basically like GT's FB option but from shotgun, the QB reads the DE to the playside, and if he collapses in, he takes it himself, otherwise he hands it off to the back. A LB should be there to back him up, and I didn't see Maye, Conner, or Cooper/Alexander anywhere near it. Looked like they got deked out by the Line motion.

Our Ends were out of position on many of these plays due to overpursuit. Dalton finished with 86 yards rushing.

-Offensively, I am proud of Landon Walker for his handling of Hughes. If we're going to be harsh on them for not doing enough at RT any other time, then we have to praise them for doing it right. Hughes was about as well-handled as he could've been with Hairston out, even when flipped to the left side on Lambert (who did get beat by Hughes several times). We ran at him, and chipped him with the TE's several times to keep him in check.

But, Parker was still rushed several times and had to throw sooner than planned. He did not make good decisions with the football, particularly in the 2nd half. He was just off on several touch throws and looked inexperienced again. I was not paying close attention to their secondary movements, but it appeared to be the same coverage scheme (still cover 25/man) in both halves of the game so I'm not sure why we did not attack the post more with Spiller or Jacoby, the seam in the Cover 2 is right down the middle. The play that worked against GT with D. Allen was called and Parker missed it. It would've won the game.

-I thought playcalling in several situations was average-to-poor, and I dont like how it took us so long to call run plays in the 3rd Quarter. There seems to have been no adjustment until the 4th. We don't execute on 3rd downs because we don't set ourselves up on 1st down, and when we do it seems Parker forgets that he only has to hit the underneath man to get the 1st. Several times I saw CJ open in the flat and he wasn't even looked at.

-Our WR's, other than Jacoby, still don't get open. Ashe dropped a critical pass that hit his hands again. Clemson must find a way to get other WRs involved in the passing game. If they are on the field and never get the ball, then the coach has to find a way to make sure they do get the ball. If they aren't open, teach them how. If they can't catch balls that hit their hands, don't put them in. If they can't run routes worth a flip, teach them how.

-Harper still doesnt run with authority. Ellington got no touches, I think I'd have had him in there instead of Harper. CJ had to come in when Harper couldn't do well enough to spell him, making him more tired.

-CJ Spiller finally got enough carries at RB, and though he deserves a week off from the obvious pain he's in, I hope it continues next week. I can take Ellington not getting touches if they are going to CJ, CJ can break a game open on one play.

-GOD **** snaps cant be F'D up by game 4. FIX IT.

-Good use of the TEs in the game, chipping Hughes and catching key passes in the flat and intermediate areas, but I know they would've been open over the middle.

-The referees were harsh in this game, alot of those calls were no-calls in my opinion, even though the majority went against TCU. One of the PI calls early in the game was awful. However, #70 for TCU held many times and it wasnt called.