Monday September 21, 2009

Boston College Review

Boston College Review
It is still September and we still don’t know a lot about so many teams, so I am guarded in my enthusiasm about Saturday’s win over Boston College. But I was extremely encouraged to see an aggressive defensive gameplan which is something I have been craving.

Sure the offense had trouble in the red zone. The Tigers did not score a touchdown in any of the four trips inside the red zone and that is a major concern.

I still have concerns about the wide receiver crew in the passing game and in their blocking. The offensive line still has some issues. You could also be a little concerned because Kyle Parker looked like a freshman but I give Boston College a lot of credit for that. They played a zone defense where they dropped seven into coverage on a large majority of plays and Parker tried to force the ball downfield.

But I was encouraged Saturday for many more reasons. We have been trying to bring back traditions around here for some time now. Dabo has embraced out traditions but none are any more important that the old style of defense we used to play around here.

So many of us were tired of watching a conservative defensive scheme that forced few turnovers and sacks and thus produced few three and out situations. Saturday we saw an aggressive defensive gameplan that saw the Tigers record four sacks and force four turnovers.

In recent years Clemson had a hard time winning the field position battle partly because they forced so few three and outs. That was not the case Saturday. Boston College had 17 drives Saturday and ran 49 plays from scrimmage. That is an average of 2.88 plays per series

Of BC’s 17 drives, 10 ended with a punt, four resulted in turnovers, one was turned over on downs, one ended the first half and they scored one touchdown. They had one drive over 17 yards. The Eagles did not run a play in Clemson territory until there was less than seven minutes remaining in the third quarter. Boston College ran only eight plays in Clemson territory the entire game.

I joked after the game that they were balanced on offense with 25 yards passing and 29 yards rushing. The Eagles had only four first downs. In the first half they had minus two yards of total offense.

That is how you play defense! Clemson dominated up front with penetration and the Tigers imposed their will upon Boston College. They forced the issue.

From an offensive standpoint there were a few bright spots. The Tigers rushed for 151 yards which is the most they have had against BC since the Eagles joined the ACC.

I thought the offensive line was OK. Once Chris Hairston went out, I watched his replacement, Corey Lambert a lot and thought he played OK. We are never sure of what their assignments were along to the OL from play to play but he seemed to hold up well Saturday.

Andre Ellington made his presence felt again. The red-shirt freshman continues to impress and might be the second best back on the team at this point. Ellington runs hard and has good instincts.

I felt Jamie Harper struggled a little bit again Saturday. In the opening week he looked like he was just hitting the hole hard without regard and did not cut well. Saturday it appeared he danced too much and was not as productive. I am not sure he has the instincts or vision of Ellington at this point.

C.J. Spiller made the huge play in the special teams but I was just as impressed with his tough running between the tackles. Spiller has improved in this department tremendously since his sophomore season.

Jacoby Ford had another very good day. Boston College did a nice job of limiting the big play but Ford was solid.

Special teams were once again very special. It is hard to imagine a player making a bigger turn around than Richard Jackson. Not only was he 6-6 on his field goals, Jackson continues to hit these boomers. His 52-yarder in the rain cleared the fence behind the goalpost and landed a few rows into the students sitting on the hill.

I thought Dawson Zimmerman punted the ball very well once again and the kick and punt coverages were excellent. The only negative I saw in the kicking game was a few penalties.

I have no idea how good Boston College is but I don’t think I have seen a Clemson team dominate an ACC offense like what I saw Saturday.

Saturday had me scratching my head a few times also. I may be the only one that was not concerned about lightning Saturday. I am a member at the Walker Course here in Clemson and am very familiar with the lightening detection system the university uses. This system needs to be recalibrated because it is too sensitive. Yeah, I know the university feels like they want to protect itself from liability suits but I have seen this system in affect over 50 times and I can tell you that it is too sensitive.

As a pre-emptive strike for the doubters, I don’t want to get struck by lightning and have compassion for victims of strikes but come on. Saturday’s delays were unnecessary. Also the policy is broken. After the second delay they announced the game would not start before 4:30 then said 4:25 then the game started back at 4:19. The policy says 30 minutes after the last strike but they changed that policy Saturday.

There is another item I need help with. I have seen penalties being marked off from the previous spot, the end of the play and the spot of the foul. Saturday I saw something I have never seen before. Clemson was called for holding on its punt return team and they marked the penalty from the spot of the end of the kick. I guess this is a new rule but I was not aware of the rule change.

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Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list

Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, Larry in Naples, FL, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Jo Ann Bachman, Frank Taylor, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, Jack Huffman, Nancy Winkler, Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan, John Reeve, Eileen Woodrum, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Jean-Pierre Bailey, Kaitlyn L, Delores Weaver, Eric Boessneck, John Bowers, Jimmy Ness, Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, John Petrey, Chalmers Carr, Drayton Melton, Jeffrey Greene, the Hutto family, Sherl Drawdy, Caleb Kennedy, Ann Fallaw, Bob Pollock.