Streeter says offense stayed in attack mode, didn't play conservative

Jake Briningstool had one of the three TD receptions in the game.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sun Oct 16 11:20:05 GMT-04:00 2022

TALLAHASSEE, FL – Clemson was able to defeat FSU Saturday night on the back of success in the middle eight, but saw a lack of success after the first few drives of the second half. Offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter said the offense didn’t play conservatively and stayed in attack mode.

Clemson fell behind 7-0 and 14-7 early as FSU found success in the running game, then reeled off 27 consecutive points to take a 34-14 lead in the third quarter.

And then the offense went into a shell. The Tigers had 247 yards of total offense at the half, managed just 77 more in the third quarter and a paltry 46 in the fourth quarter. The defense wasn’t helping things, either, allowing just 54 yards in the third quarter and appearing to have the game in hand.

But Florida State had a whopping 169 yards of total offense in the fourth quarter. The Seminoles had two 90-yard-plus drives in the game – one in each half. That allowed the ‘Noles to get back in the game and they were just an onside kick recovery away from being able to drive for the winning score.

However, the Tigers outscored FSU 17-0 in the middle eight – the last four minutes of the first half and first four minutes of the second half – and used that to secure the big lead and eventually the win.

“We're able to be very successful in those situations and that's really catapulting us into the second half,” Streeter said. “As you saw in the second half, there was the big kickoff return, the big play to Davis Allen down the sideline. These guys are responding and they're responding at the right time. It's really good to see.”

Streeter said he knows the offense didn’t play well after the field goal that put them ahead 34-14.

“I just felt like we had a couple of drives in that third quarter after we scored that we sputtered on,” Streeter said. “We didn't quite make the plays and the yards we needed to keep that momentum going.”

However, running back Will Shipley had 20 carries for 121 yards and six receptions for another 48 yards.

“One of my biggest goals for tonight was to get No. 1 the ball a lot more,” Streeter said. “We got him the ball 25 or 26 times and it just shows what he can do when you give him the ball that many times.”

Streeter said there are things to clean up heading forward.

“I'm just proud of the group on how they responded to the parts of the game,” he said. “I wish we could've finished some drives. We score a touchdown here and we got called for holding, a couple of procedure penalties that we've got to clean up. The majority of things are just us shooting ourselves in the foot, and we have to get those corrected.”

I asked him if the offense went conservative with the big lead, and he said no.

“I don't think we ever want to stop putting the pedal to the metal. We always want to be in that attack mode mentality,” he said. “When you get into the situation where you're up 20, you start saying, 'Okay, let's do a good job of protecting the ball, running the clock and helping the defense out the best we can.' We want to be in attack mode as long as we possibly can. Whether that means running the ball or throwing the ball, just trying to keep a good tempo and making sure we're getting the playmakers the ball.”