Tuesday October 30, 2007

The Maryland Worksheet

The Maryland Game Worksheet
Offensive Goals Made
Red Zone Scoring-80%- 100%
Fewer than two turnovers-1
Fewer than 3 sacks per game-1
More than 150 yards rushing- 249
More than 4 yards per carry- 4.4
More than 27 points-30
More than 20 first downs- 27
Better than 60% pass completions percentage-77%

Offensive Goals Missed
More than 225 yards passing-197
Red Zone-60% touchdowns- 40%

Defensive Goals Made
Fewer than 125 yards rushing- 97
Fewer than 3.5 yards per carry-3.0
Fewer than 18 points- 17

Defensive Goals Missed
Fewer than 18 first downs-18
More than two turnovers-2
Fewer than 200 yards passing- 217
Less than 55% pass completion percentage- 61%
More than 3 sacks per game- 2
Red Zone-40% touchdowns- 66%
Red Zone Scoring-70%-100%

Penalty yardage fewer than 50 per game- 55

Overall Report Analysis-Grades and Comments:
Offense-Rushing
Interior running game- Perhaps the best effort of the year from the offensive line and the interior running game. James Davis was a man and his effort was terrific. It was also nice to see C.J. Spiller get more physical and have more success between the tackles.
Perimeter running game-Excellent. Spiller and Davis made nice runs on the edge including Davis’ touchdown. Ford also had a nice run on the perimeter.
Option game- N/A.
Draws- The Tigers are starting to utilize the draw more out of the spread. The backs have had more room to run the draw in the past two weeks.
Short yardage running game- Clemson was excellent here. It seemed every time the Tigers had to have a tough yard they were able to get it from Davis.
Yards after contact- Excellent again. Davis and Spiller ran through tackles and seemed to always fall forward. When you rush for 249 yards many often come after the first hit.

Offense-Passing
Pass protection-Very good. Harper was only sacked once and really did not have to scramble too often. The running game helped keep the Terps off of Harper also.
Underneath passing game- I thought Harper had protection and threw the ball well. I also thought the receivers and backs caught the ball extremely well.
Intermediate passing game- The play action game was working because of the run. Michael Palmer’s touchdown reception was a nice intermediate pass.
Vertical passing game- The Tigers did not have to go vertical too often but Aaron Kelly’s touchdown reception was a key to the early momentum.
Screens- I like the way Clemson has started to use the running backs in the screen name now.
Drops- I can’t remember any drops again Saturday.
Yards after catch- This was not a huge factor.
QB throws on time- Excellent. Harper looked comfortable and threw the ball on time with the exception of one throw.

Offense-Overall
First down yardage- It seemed to me that the offensive line dominated first down
Third down conversion- Clemson was 8 of 15 which was excellent.
Big Plays- Offensively this was more of a “grind it out” game instead of the big plays. Usually the Tigers hit more big plays but it was nice to see the Tigers win a game by controlling the line of scrimmage and controlling the clock.
Trick plays- N/A.

Defense-Overall
Tackling-I felt this was one of the best tackling performances of the season. It seemed the Tigers had more players around the ball and gang tackled better.
First down yardage- Maryland was constantly in second and long.
Third down conversion- The Terps were five of 14 which is not bad but some of those came late.
Limit of Big Plays- The Terps hit a 44-yard pass to Cannon and Ball had a 22-yard run but Clemson was fantastic at limiting the Terps’ big gains.

Defense-Running game
Interior running game- Maryland is usually one of the top rushing teams in the league and they are usually very tough and physical. However, Saturday the Tigers were the more physical team and took away Ball and Lattimore.
Perimeter running game- Clemson held Maryland to 97 yards rushing and the Terps were not able to get anything going on the perimeter.
Option game- In the past Maryland usually features some option but they did run any option Saturday.
Draws- Clemson’s linebackers did a nice job of recognizing the draw.
Short yardage running game- The Tigers held Maryland on fourth down and I felt that was a huge play in turning momentum.
Yards after contact- Usually Ball and Lattimore punish defenders but they were not able to break very many tackles on a muddy field.

Defense-Passing Game
Pressure- Clemson only had two sacks Saturday but provided a little more pressure. It seemed the defensive ends were able to power or bull rush and got pushed up field.
Underneath passing game coverage- Good. The secondary played well in all aspects of the game.
Intermediate passing game coverage- Maryland did hit the tight end over the middle with some success.
Vertical passing game coverage- Heyward-Bey was not a factor as the Tiger secondary were able to take his speed out of the game plan.
Screens-Ralph Friedgen coached teams usually have more success with their screens but the Tigers were very prepared.
Passes broken up- Chancellor, Butler and Gilchrist were able to break up passes for the Tigers.

Open field tackling-Considering the field conditions I felt the Tigers tackled extremely well.

Special Teams
Kickoff returns- Both of Clemson’s kick-off returns went for 26 yards.
Kick-off coverage- The Tigers held Maryland to three kick-off returns with the longest being 21 yards. Great effort with the touchbacks and the tackling.

Punt return/block- Ford had a seven yard and a five yard return. Not much action here.

Punt coverage-Snap, protection, punt, coverage- Clemson only punted once and everything went well except the punt went well into the end zone.

Field Goals/extra points-snap, hold, protection, kick- Only one missed field goal here and the rest were perfect snaps, holds, protections and kicks.

Overall Team
Energy, Enthusiasm, Leadership-The key was James Davis and his leadership all week. His guarentee was exactly what this team needed.

Coaching
Emotionally prepared-James Davis took care of this but Bowden did challenge his team to back up their leader.
Game plan- Excellent on both sides of the ball. Offensively the Tigers were able to establish the run and the offense played well off of the run. Defensively it was nice to see a Friedgen coached team struggle offensively.
Adjustments- The staff had to adjust to the wind and the field conditions.
Personnel- Davis and Spiller’s rotation seemed to work better.
Time outs-N/A.

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