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No Defending the Defense
I hear Clemson people all of the time talk about the good ole days and what they missed about it. Penn State was the original "Linebacker U." but Clemson was not too far behind. For those of us that grew up watching the great Clemson defenses of the 1980s, it was hard to watch the Tigers play defense this past season.

To be fair, the game has changed. Offenses are more complex and athletes are hard to cover in open space. But everything is relative and Clemson's defense did not play well compared to others across the country.

The Tigers are 81st in the country in scoring defense and 71st in total defense. They are 82nd against the run and 73rd against the pass. These are not winning numbers.

If Dabo Swinney wants this program to take the next step then something has to done about the defense.

In my opinion the defense has three major issues. There is a lack of talent, a lack of fundamentals and a poor scheme.

Talent
Clemson lost DaQuan Bowers, Jarvis Jenkins, Marcus Gilchrist and Crezdon Butler from last year's defense. Those are four very good college players that most programs would have missed.

The remaining talent level was going to be a drop off this season not matter what. The Tigers were good along the defensive line but had depth issues here. The back seven had talent and experience issues.

With that said though, the Tigers were not as bad as it looked this season. This defense is not Alabama and LSU in terms of ability but they were not the 80th most talented defense either.

Fundamentals
The biggest on the field problem this season was fundamentals. The Tigers were an awful tackling team. Time and time again they lacked fundamentals in their tackling.

Scheme
My biggest problem with the scheme is that is it so reactionary. The Tigers play a match up defense in that they let the offensive personnel dictate their scheme. For example, of the offense is in a pro set with a tight end and two backs then the Tigers play a base 4-3 set. They do the same for most 12 personnel (1 back, 2 tight end sets).

But when the opponent uses three and four wide outs schemes or goes empty in the backfield Clemson uses nickel and dime packages as its base.

The lack of cover skills at linebacker and the lack of great players in the secondary is a major cause of this philosophy but the nickel and dime schemes fail in several ways in my opinion.

Often times you see teams spread Clemson's defense out and get Clemson in nickel and dime packages in order to run the ball between the tackles. West Virginia was 100th in the nation rushing the football this season yet had 188 yards rushing against Clemson in the Orange Bowl. Time and time again you saw teams that can't run the ball pound the ball right down Clemson's throat.

Troy has 165 yards rushing. Auburn had 237. Maryland had 291. Wake Forest had 145 as did NC State. South Carolina had 210 yards on the ground.

The formula is simple. Spread Clemson out. Get them to take a linebacker or two off of the field and run the ball. Clemson allows teams that are not balanced to become balanced.

I would rather see Clemson set the tone. The first thing would like to see is a defense that shuts down the run. I like the idea of taking away the run no matter what.

Next I would like to see a defense that dictates the offenses personnel. If you spread the field and send out four or five guys in the pattern then be prepared to to adjust and max protect because we are gonna pound your quarterback. If you chose to not max protect then you better get your back up quarterback ready because we are gonna keep hitting your starter. That is the way you handle the spread in my opinion. You force the issue and make them adjust to you but that is not what happens with this defense at Clemson.

The two other problems that exist with playing so much nickel and dime is the develop of linebackers and recruiting. I don't know how you can develop linebackers if they don't play. The defense was on the field for 897 plays heading into the Orange Bowl and Quandon Christian played in 402 plays. If his backups played 100 plays that means Clemson played with a SAM Linebacker about half of the time the rest they were in nickel and dime.

The participation chart is not out yet for the West Virginia game but the Mountaineers ran 89 plays. My guess is that Clemson was in dime for at least 45 of those plays and nickel for at least 25.

My guess is that for a majority of the plays Clemson had in a 175 pound Martin Jenkins and 185 pound dime back in Xavier Brewer as the nickel and dime backs. In the scheme Brewer often lined up in the box between the tackles where the WILL linebacker usually plays. I am not sure how physical you can be and how you can stop the run in this personnel grouping.

In my opinion good defenses do the following things:
A-They are fundamentally sound
B-They tackle well
C-They don't give up big plays
D-They stop the run
E-They force teams to become one dimensional
F-They pressure the passer
G-They create turnovers
H-They force the issue
I-They are physical

The two final issues I have with this defense deal with the complexity and identity of this defense.

Time and time again you see seniors looking at each other right before the snap and it is apparent they are lost. The defense has to be too complicated if seniors are lost.

In my opinion this program is headed in the right direction. However a lot has to change if this program is going to take the next step. Continued progress will happen when the defense takes the same positive steps the offense took next season.

The offense did it with a new coordinator, new talent and player development. it will be interesting to see what changes occur in order to get this defense back to where Clemson fans want it to be.

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency

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

*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, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Jo Ann Bachman, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard, Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Daniel Rosborough, The Huffman family, Nancy Winkler, John Reeve, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Kaitlyn L, Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, Jeffrey Greene, the Hutto family, Sherl Drawdy, Caleb Kennedy, Teresa O'Connor, Matt Jacobs,Perrin Seigler, Candee Massee, Lindsey Jordan, Sam Catoe, Tyler Felch, the Nicolopulos family, "the Jacksonville, FL guys", Kim Sims, the Coyle family, Ryleigh Tedder, Steve Lee, Kelly Trakas, Jimmy Moore, the Thomas. V Family, Emary Claire Young, Kitty Bowers,Julie and motivateLocke, the Scheider family, Lauren Kittles' family, Frank Gentry, Joyce Bussey, Stacey McKeown, Mary Priester, Dale Childs, Larry Lentz, Jr, Carl Sharperson, Scott Hannon, William Perry, Tyler Swaney, Randy Anderson, Lillian, Matt Hogan, Mark Feit, David Frame, Chad Berry, the family of Matthew M. Watson, Nancy Taylor, the Dowis family, Shervin Messer, Alan Putnam, the Olivers, Lee Tate, Ronnie Abrams, Eddie Greene, Tricia Hood, the Jackson family, Bill Vader, Nancy Taylor, Tina DeWitt, Rock Horne, Christopher Tuten, Jimmy Head, Bobby Wayne Thomas, Emma and Danielle Carothers, Robert Ditty, Murray Smith, Dot Cartee, Ayden Mills, Millie Heatley, Lynn Martin and family, Michael Pinson, Jack Bailey, Jake David family, Janice Thompson, Angie Crowley, Rachel Graves, Ira, Elsie Taylor, Mike Tolson, Poly Wells, Dr. Muriel Bishop.

Comments:

You could be right. But everybody was praising the defense last year, saying the season could have been much, much worse if not for the defense. It seemed to me then that the defense was getting a "pass". Not saying that they weren't solid in 2010. I just didn't think they were as good as many claimed.

By the same token, I think the offense is getting a "pass" this year. Offensive effectiveness was down the last 6 games. Is it because most defenses figured out Morris? I'm not sure. I do know that the offense turned the ball over 4 times each in 3 of the losses. In the other loss, the offense was able to muster up only 2.6 yards per play.

The point is that problems sometimes run deeper than what appears at the surface.

Posted by Ridge Creek on January 09, 2012 at 10:42 AM EST #

The point is that problems sometimes run deeper than what appears at the surface.

Posted by Ridge Creek on January 09, 2012 at 10:47 AM EST #

You can throw all the defensive numbers and rankings out the door. To compare them to last year or any year is apple to oranges due to the new offense. With the new pace and amount of plays that our offense runs, it also allow more plays and a quicker pace for our opponents. I truly believe that our defense that we fielded last year would have take a huge step back if they had been on the same field as this offense.

To blame talent is a joke. Look at WVU’s schedule and tell me which teams have more talent on defense. Giving up 70 starts at the top, talent is the least of our issues.

Posted by sregitog 1 on January 09, 2012 at 10:59 AM EST #

What does it say about a CEO coach that has to fire both his top hires inside of 4 years? Kind of makes you wonder if he’s even capable of being a CEO, doesn’t it? We need a hard nose head coach that takes no BS, doesn’t spin, and isn’t buddies with the players. We don’t need a dancing machine in the locker room, it makes our program look like a farce on a national level when you see that crap and then get 70 hung on us.

Dabo can count his blessings that he coaches in the ACC. I’m sure that TDP is working on that extension as we speak. How sad is that? 2-4 finish, 3rd loss in a row to our rival, 70pts given up in a bowl, coming off of a losing season and our head coach isn’t shown the door, he’ll be given an extension. But when the AD’s neck is on the line for hiring him, what do you expect? We bought into 10 years of spin, great recruiting classes, and “we’re close”, so why not 10 more?

Posted by sregitog 1 on January 09, 2012 at 10:59 AM EST #

I can only remember about 3 times when Tnet articles hinted negativity about a coach, and each time (Bowden, Napier, & Powell) the coach was soon fired. Hood's recent article (and this) make me think Steele is gone.

Steele reportedly wanted to do more live tackling to improve fundamentals but Dabo wouldn't let him. Steele complained about this in a P&C article. I think Dabo deserves some blame.

Defensive players have complained that Steele's D is too complex.

WVU players reported that Clemson's D-players gave up and were saying, "Hey you guys got this. Take it easy on us." Disgusting. Before launching a post-ACCCG “quitter” tirade at the fans, Dabo should instill toughness in his team.

Our O & D lines regularly gets pushed around by smaller guys. Clemson needs a new strength & conditioning staff.

Right direction because we won the pathetic ACC (thanks to playing an injury-plagued FSU)? WVU exposed CU as the same old soft, inconsistent fringe Top 25 team.

Posted by Razzmatazz on January 09, 2012 at 11:00 AM EST #

I also think Dabo and staff don't know how to keep the team focused and working hard to win every single game. I'm tired of hearing the players say that they weren't prepared, or didn't work as hard because they felt like they had arrived, or didn't want it bad enough. (Boyd, Allen, et al, have said this sort of thing after the losses.) Clemson's wild inconsistency is on the head coach and his staff. I wish we had a hard-nosed, steely professional SOB like Ford or Saban, rather than a buddy-buddy, up & down emotional type.

Posted by Razzmatazz on January 09, 2012 at 11:10 AM EST #

Posted by sregitog 1 on January 09, 2012 at 11:12 AM EST #

Lost Maxwell last year- Butler last played in 2009.

Posted by fighttigersfight on January 09, 2012 at 11:13 AM EST #

@sregitog - I don't think the dancing machine is as much of a concern as you might think. I seem to remember Mike Gundy doing that stuff before Dabo, and I like where Okie St. is right now. The players are into that stuff. The other comments, no disagreement here.

Posted by Battery505 on January 09, 2012 at 11:15 AM EST #

One of your best blogs of the year Mickey! Not taking shots at your others, but this one is spot on!

I hope someone is reading this.

Razz, you are also spot on as usual!

Posted by Tiger Rag+Fishing+Team on January 09, 2012 at 11:15 AM EST #

Lost Deandre McDaniel last year too. He was either ALL-ACC or 2nd team ACC.

Posted by Ridge Creek on January 09, 2012 at 11:16 AM EST #

I was wrong: It was our O-linemen (not D-linemen) that asked WVU's players for mercy. Sickening link & excerpt below.

http://www.wvillustrated.com/story/16454801/wvu-turns-doubters-to-believers-in-orange-bowl

"There was like linemen out there talking about, ‘Good job, man, stop going so hard. Y'all got it.' I was like, all right," says senior cornerback Keith Tandy. "I never heard anything like that and they just made us want to go harder and keep making plays."

To hear the opposition so readily drop its sword and ask for mercy is not what Tandy and his teammates could have expected to hear coming into a BCS bowl game.

Posted by Razzmatazz on January 09, 2012 at 11:52 AM EST #

Interesting blog Mickey. However, I felt like you danced around the elephant in the room a little bit - Kevin Steele and whether he should be and will be replaced. Interesting statistic for you, Mickey. Vic Koenning's defenses allowed 17.5 points a game in his four years as defensive coordinator. Steele's defenses have allowed 23 points a game in his three years at Clemson. A 5.5 point per game difference for an average is a pretty substantial wouldn't you say? My point is not about Koenning and whether we should have tried to retain him, I'm just providing the numbers for comparative/benchmark purposes.

Posted by surroundedtiger on January 09, 2012 at 12:31 PM EST #

Yeah I read it too: http://www.wvillustrated.com/story/16454801/wvu-turns-doubters-to-believers-in-orange-bowl

I would also like to state that I'm Neil Armstrong,and I have moon rocks in my back yard......Don't believe everything you read..especially from the opponents' side.

Posted by clemsondavey on January 09, 2012 at 12:41 PM EST #

I agree with you, Mickey, and think something has to change on defense. I, however, do not think it is a talent issue, and feel our problem is that the scheme is too complicated. KS, knows a lot about football, and his scheme is probably very good from a technical standpoint, but I am not sure it is feasible to run if guys only have a limited amount of time to learn it.

Posted by Locotiger on January 09, 2012 at 01:08 PM EST #

ClemsonDavey:

I don't believe that you're Neil Armstrong.

I do believe Tandy's reported account.

I don't believe Clemson got whupped 70-33 in the Orange Bowl by a Big East team. That's too far fetched.

Posted by Razzmatazz on January 09, 2012 at 01:22 PM EST #

It's more fundamentals than scheme. Players don't have good tackling technique, they get blocked was to easily, and occasionally they have a coverage bust.

But one thing that is the most important in my book. The team was ready to play, but they didn't react to a bad play well at all. They are mentally fragile, and it should not be so. They proved early in the season they can respond, and that they play really well when they are determined.

Not sure of the answer but practicing with more tackling and against real cut-blocking would be a good idea.

Posted by Clemsnman on January 09, 2012 at 02:09 PM EST #

Good blog, Mickey. Your analysis here is spot-on accurate. Thanks for calling it as it is - 'cause the truth ain't pretty. We all know it.

Posted by RogerS on January 09, 2012 at 02:26 PM EST #

anyone that watched us play this year knows that both our lines are soft,slow and weak!Wake and Wofford both pushed both lines around all game! I will not mention Tech,NCSU, c$$Ts or WVU!!!we are the weakest softest team I have ever seen play major college football!!IMHO our problems start with our pitiful S & C program!

Posted by Litefoot on January 09, 2012 at 02:40 PM EST #

I disagree with your introduction. Has the game changed? To some degree. Is it still football? Yes it is. You block, you tackle, and you make plays. Traditional option offenses run all over us. Spread option offenses run all over us. Like Tony Dungy says, "Just do what we do." For the last 12 years, Clemson has subscribed to this. With the exception of a few games each year, we are known nationwide as "soft" and have been since TB took over. Nothing embarrasses me more than for people to call us "soft" or to say that we are going to "pull a Clemson" and lose to a cupcake. Alabama gave up 9 TD's this year on defense. It can be done. And let me tell you, we didn't want any part of Alabama or LSU this year, as much as we wanted that special season. Talk about being embarrassed. Like they did in the Georgia Dome, Bama would've hurt every player on our team and then would've let their 2nd and 3rd string continue to hurt our 2nd and 3rd string while running up the score.

Posted by Paws4Effect on January 09, 2012 at 02:52 PM EST #

Strength and conditioning is the major issue at Clemson. I think fans can clearly see the difference between missing assignments vs getting pushed around. And, with the exception of 3 or 4 games this year, we got pushed around on both sides of the ball. Luckily, we had a variety of options and playmakers on the offensive side of the ball.

Posted by Paws4Effect on January 09, 2012 at 02:56 PM EST #

You have to be smokin' something to think Steele deserves another paycheck. His record is pathetic. Can't be great under him. Heck, if we were in the SEC, we would be neck and neck with Vandy and Kentucky!!!

Posted by CU8993 on January 09, 2012 at 02:56 PM EST #

Dabo is fine, we need to secure this recruiting class and then replace KS. We ve played alot of frosh with no depth

Posted by clemfan52 on January 09, 2012 at 05:23 PM EST #

THERE IT IS!! Theres what Klempsun is known for! One week you are a hero and the best thing to ever happen to klempsun, the next you're a bum on the street! We said after our game that klempsun was soft and nobody wanted to hear it! Oh and MARINEONECLEMSON, how are we envious of you guys? Envious of klempsun? Are you kidding me? You went to a BCS bowl by winning the worst conference in America and that was further proved in the bowls. You can't beat us in ANYTHING, things have changed, we OWN this state now and theres nothing you can do about it. You have an absolute joke as a head coach and I couldn't have been happier to see him signed to an extension. Regardless of what recruits you bring in, this streak won't end anytime soon, certainly not while your daddy "The Visor" is still in town! 34-13!

Posted by champkind on January 09, 2012 at 05:43 PM EST #

Thank you champkind stupid cock for the compliment of coming over to this CLEMSON site to troll and post! Typical coot envious of Clemson.

Posted by jwlcpa on January 09, 2012 at 06:12 PM EST #

Fuq you Champions. You following S.O.B. And yeah I took the bait.

Posted by insanetigerfan08 on January 09, 2012 at 09:52 PM EST #

dam auto correction. You know what I meant.

Posted by insanetigerfan08 on January 09, 2012 at 09:53 PM EST #

Posted by champkind on January 09, 2012 at 10:22 PM EST #

Geez, you guys can't even beat us in hoops!! I could round up 5 30 somethings from my neighborhood to beat the Gamecocks yet they still slap the Tigers around. You guys can poo poo our 3 game streak all you want BUT that little ACC championship band aid was ripped off by 70-33! 70?! Wow and by a team barely good enough to be in the Top 25 and got trucked by a 5-7 Syracuse team. Things have changed and as the SEC continues to dominate football, we will continue to dominate you.

Posted by champkind on January 09, 2012 at 10:30 PM EST #

Agreed about all the qualities of a "good defense" and the fact that Clemson is currently none of those qualities, which brings the obvious question - how long does Kevin Steele get?

2010 team was loaded with NFL talent and was a good, not great, defense (Top 25 in total defense but probably should have been Top 5 with 7-8 future NFL players on defense).

2011 team, with good, not great talent, was absolutely abismal as a defensive unit.

Great post Mickey!

Posted by cutigersco on January 09, 2012 at 10:42 PM EST #

ya we lost Mcdaniel also, so losing 5 NFL caliber defenders has to hurt lol...we still won 10 games, won the ACC title, and beat an Auburn team that handed the cocks one of their 2 losses...so in all actuality for clemson to show continued improvement as a team by winning 10 games and the ACC is a testament to a program on the rise...how many teams could lose that much NFL caliber defenders and improve the following year???Clemson did...keep rising Tigers!!!!!

Posted by Splode on January 10, 2012 at 01:22 AM EST #

we have the Larry Shyatt of defensive coordinators.

What will be done eventually,MUST be done IMMEDIATELY! Steele's defensive schemes are like playing 9 on 11.Our lb's often are not in the same zip code as the ball carrier.Steele has proven to be clueless against certain offenses.Yes,he's had some success, When we're loaded w/ future NFLers.But anybody who can say sic em would be effective.His excuse:we're playing 18-22 yr. olds.Who does everybody else have to play?Can anyone expect the situation to improve w/ Steele as D.C.?

Posted by PawsPastor on January 10, 2012 at 06:28 AM EST #

Wow! Where to start? Mickey, most of your statements are true but obvious. The majority of the people commenting here know nothing about defense let alone how to lead these young men. Steele needs help with these strange offenses and Dabo knows it. This team is not soft. They had no chance of stopping wv in that game due to the skeem. The position the players were in made it impossible to stop them. You could put any players in the country on our team and the only difference would have been the tackling would have improved but the plays would have netted 4 or 5 each time anyway. So we only give up 35 but only have time to score 17. Do this have someone quiz you with down and dist and make a call. Yours will fail more than you think.

Posted by Smplman on January 10, 2012 at 10:03 PM EST #

Cont. The game has changed and steele's system needs to change. I watched bama shift into the 3-4 easily and didn't see anything particularly difficult or even see coverages disguised yet players were in position to make plays. The only time lsu was able to get the qb down field on a run was when bama was in a 4-3 expecting a deep ball. Sound familiar? As far as full speed practice, pay attention and you will find many successful teams doing the same. We need to use our lb's and not worry about ticking off the big time de recruit that wants assurances we will continue to use speed rushers off the ends until the cows come home. Tebow is seeing to it that there will be a future need for players who can do these things. As far as scu, go away coots. We don't need to hear your trash. You are of no consequence. We have bigger plans.

Posted by Smplman on January 10, 2012 at 10:17 PM EST #

One more thing. Allot more things are said on the field in every game than most of you would believe. Since so many of you think the answer is to treat the players like dogs, you couldn't lead men with a strong will. Those men who have such a will end up broken and unmotivated and if you think this is saban's method, think again. He holds them accountable as does Dabo. Dabo just chooses to be closer to the team and some of you don't like it. Tough. The players need to focus more on the fun of dominating their opponent and allot less on details which only cause them to second guess their instincts. If steele gets some help implementing a modified 3-4 while retaining a base 4-3 that can be implemented with only 4 natural db's, our talent will show.

Posted by Smplman on January 10, 2012 at 10:32 PM EST #

When you don't have the biggest, and in our case, far from the strongest. Do like GT, and cut their legs out from under them. If Dabo wants to fix it, he better sharpen his AX. The heads of Batson and Steele needs to fall. And patch jobs never last long....

Posted by allorangeallthetime52 on January 11, 2012 at 06:03 PM EST #