Monday October 08, 2007

Virginia Tech Review

Virginia Tech Review

Let me start by saying that today’s blog is only about the game Saturday night. Each Monday we review the game and that is what I am doing today. The subject of the future of Clemson football this season and beyond can and will be discussed many times at a later date but today’s blog is mostly about what we saw Saturday.

I am an optimist and try to be as positive as possible so allow me to point out what few positives I saw before we get to the obvious negatives.

First, I thought most of the players played as hard as they could. I did not think effort was the problem.

Also I thought most of the fans were terrific despite what was happening on the field. Some left early and some booed but for the most part the Clemson fans acted responsibly and stayed with this team until the end and I think that should be mentioned.

Some players on offense had very good games like Aaron Kelly and Tyler Grisham. The special teams were awful but Mark Buchholz played well. The defense had a lot of players play well and with a lot of emotion and effort.

Finally, I thought Military Appreciation Day was a huge success. Jon Seketa and the Clemson Corps should be very proud of a terrific display of honor and patriotism. I found myself being moved to tears a couple of times throughout the day with the ceremonies and Seketa should be proud of another incredible effort.

Now on to the bitch session.

There is a lot broken in Clemson football and I am not sure how it can be fixed or if it can be fixed. Clemson special teams are pathetic. I do give Eddie Royal, Victor Harris, Frank Beamer and Virginia Tech a lot of credit but the Tigers were awful Saturday.

The punt team had to hold their blocks so long against Tech’s aggressive block scheme and that helped lead to the big returns. Clemson’s gunners over ran the returners and missed open field tackles then the rest of the punt team was so far downfield it gave Royal a ton of time to pick up great speed. Perhaps the biggest disappointment I saw Saturday was one player in pursuit appear to quit in his pursuit. Go back and look at the film and you will obviously see it. That is inexcusable.

The kick-off return for a touchdown was another issue where Tech players blasted Clemson bodies. That is two kick-off returns for touchdowns in three games.

The offense got whipped up front and Tech punished Clemson’s skill players. The Hokies outnumbered Clemson in the box early and once they got up 17-0 the linebackers no longer had to respect the run so they got deep drops into the passing zones.

I also give Tech credit for some incredible athletic plays like the one where linebacker Vince Hall made a diving tip and Harris turned it into a diving interception.

But the biggest disappointment I saw all night goes back to the blog I wrote last Wednesday entitled, “Man Up!” Last Wednesday I said that Tech was going to go back to what they do best and that is to plain and simple get physical. When all else fails you can always get tough and get physical. You have heard coaches tell teams, “When you don’t know what to do or what your assignment is then at least just clean somebody’s clock.”

Tech came out and was the more intense team. They were the more emotional team. But more importantly they were the more physical team.

By the end of the night I counted five Clemson offensive players that at one time left the game because of injuries.

Tech imposed its will on Clemson. To me that is the hardest pill to swallow. A team came into Death Valley and physical beat Clemson up. I have a hard time with that one. I am not a guy that shouts Danny Ford’s name every time Clemson loses a football game but I do remember a time where Clemson was the tougher team. It is difficult for me to watch an opponent’s safeties pound our wide receivers while our safeties try to catch their wide outs.

I hate losing but if I am to lose I at least want the other team to feel like they have been in a fight. I imagine the Tech training room is empty today. The Virginia Tech training staff could take Columbus Day off or else go help the Maytag repair guy. Maybe they could come help the Clemson training staff because their training room looks like MASH 4077 today.

Jacoby Ford gets a ball thrown to him in the flat and he gets leveled and does not play again because of the injury. I did not see the same hitting from the other side.

Don’t get me wrong, Clemson’s defense played well enough to win but Tech came into the game last in the ACC in offense. I think they were 110th in the country on offense coming into Saturday. Still the defense played well enough to win.

The offense looks soft. Where are the days of the offensive line blowing people off of the ball? Where are the holes? Where are the James Davis punishing runs? Where is C.J. Spiller?

I have never been envious and don’t think that is the right way to go about life but I want to look like Virginia Tech. I want a punishing football. I want to see toughness.

Forget Danny Ford just give me an offensive line man like John Phillips. Where are the Bubba Browns? Can Jeff Davis suit back up? Just give me Chris Lancaster for a series.

I don’t care if it is Tommy Bowden or Rich Rodriquez or Alex Rodriquez but someone please make my football team tough again.

Maybe we could get U.S. News and World report to include toughness in their criteria so we could make that a priority at Clemson again. The toughness issue is broken so somebody please fix it.

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