Monday November 10, 2008

FSU Game Review

FSU Game Review
I think one word can summarize the trip to Tallahassee—DEMORALIZING.

It was demoralizing to see an FSU squad that has not been able to run the football on Clemson in several years, rack up 266 yards on the ground.

It was demoralizing to watch another poor tackling performance.

It was demoralizing to see blown assignments and bad fundamentals.

It was demoralizing to watch poor pass protection lead to six sacks.

It was demoralizing to watch this team crumble in the face of adversity.

If you can’t block and you can’t tackle then you can’t win. I don’t care who coaches the Tigers next season if the blocking and tackling efforts continue along these trends.

Saturday’s problems on offense started after Chris Hairston left with a concussion and the Tigers had a hard time protecting for the rest of the contest. I usually don’t question coaching but why not help Corey Lambert with a tight end and/or a back to help chip Everett Brown?

It hurts because Clemson’s big names played poorly Saturday. I am a fan of the Clemson running backs but if they want to play in the NFL he will have to come up with better pass protection efforts than we saw Saturday. The quarterback is not the reason Clemson lost but it would be nice to see him not throw the ball directly to the opponent so often and so deep in his own territory.

The Bandit end has talked about going pro early but he will have to become a much better player and more consistent at the next level. Usually safeties are consistent but Saturday will go on their highlight films.

It is hard to imagine Linebacker U having a game where the linebackers were less of a factor than what we saw Saturday. Is it just me or are Clemson’s blitz packages completely ineffective? I just see blitzers just running into offensive linemen.

If I see another Clemson defensive end get sucked inside and lose containment on a reverse then I may lose it. The turning point of the Maryland game was Darius Heyward-Bey’s 76-yard reverse and you knew FSU would try to exploit the Tigers’ aggressiveness. There were several other times throughout the game where Clemson lost containment which is another example of missed assignments.

Tackling has nothing to do with assignments but it is another example of lack of fundamentals. Clemson could put together an entire tape of poor tackling techniques from Saturday.

Another major disappointment from the road trip was the effort and energy. I am not sure why the Tigers lacked emotion or energy. This was another big game and FSU provided some atmosphere. This Clemson team looked like it was playing at Wallace Wade Stadium instead of Doak Campbell.

The better team won Saturday and Florida State is improving but this is still not a great team. I would have felt different if this offense that put up 41 points had Chris Weinke or Charlie Ward. It would not have hurt this bad if Tamarick Vanover, Warrick Dunn or even Walter Jones would have been lined up opposite of the Tigers. The FSU defense is improving but I still don’t see Boulware, Wilson, Brooks, Jones, Sanders or Wadsworth out there.

Clemson was an underdog Saturday and rightfully so. I was not expecting to win Saturday but I also was not expecting such a demoralizing loss.

Saturday’s loss was a lot like the opener to Alabama. It was not quite as demoralizing as that affair but it was another example of a team with more of a sense of urgency and a more physical football team whipping the Tigers.

The lack of a sense of urgency is a concern. This team is fighting for its coach in order to get him a chance at the job and it is fighting to stay alive in the ACC and bowl contention. If there was no sense of urgency Saturday then when will we see it?

We knew Clemson’s offensive line was going to be an issue in the pre-season and when you lose Chris Hairston then the issue is a greater concern. The linebackers were anther issue that we had fair warning on. We knew this team has issues about other teams being more physical. However we did not know they would have such chemistry issues.

I thought the Boston College win would have injected some confidence into the program and the Tigers would have come out swinging in Tallahassee. They did early but had no answer when adversity struck.

That is another issue. When adversity strikes, this team panics. I don’t want to say they quit but they do panic. They panicked when Alabama hit them in the mouth from the opening drive. They panicked when Maryland mounted some second half momentum.

It would be nice to see some mental toughness but this team has shown time and time again that when adversity strikes most of the time they have no answer.

Whoever the coach at Clemson is next season, he will have to make some staff changes. He will also have to improve fundamentals. However, his biggest challenge is to make the 2009 Clemson Tigers a much tougher team physically and mentally.

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