Compared to the current top teams in the rankings.....

Nov 14, 2022, 4:12 PM

With us being 10 games into the season, I decided it was time to take an in-depth look at our offense. How do the numbers actually look? Do they back up what our eyes have seen this season? And where do we rank compared to some of the top teams in the country this year? Let’s take a look.

Total Offense:

Rank: 53rd (409.2 yards/game. For reference, UGA 3rd @ 509.6, OSU 6th @ 501.9, UM 24th @ 460.3, TCU 12th @ 486.1, Tenn 1st @ 543.7).

Passing: 71st (227.1 yards/game) (For reference, UGA 9th @ 317.1, OSU 17th @ 294.0, UM 95th @ 208.9, TCU 28th @ 272.5, Tenn 2nd @ 348.2). Also of note are the 3 teams directly above us in this stat are Texas A&M, the Coots, and Northwestern… I don’t think I have to explain why this isn’t just bad but is awful.

Rushing: 41st (182.1 yards/game) (For reference, UGA 31st @ 192.5, OSU 22nd @ 207.9, UM 4th @ 251.4, TCU 16th @ 213.6, Tenn 28th @ 195.5).

3rd Down Conversions: 24th (45.9%, 68/148) (for reference, UGA 5th @ 52.1% (63/121), OSU 19th @ 47.2% (58/123), UM 15th @ 48.4% (61/126), TCU 40th @ 43.4% (59/136), Tenn 29th @ 45.5% (61/134)).

PASSING YARDS PER COMPLETION: 106th (10.97 yards, 207 total completions) – As the majority of y’all already know, we don’t throw the ball down the field and this stat proves it. (for reference, UGA 38th @ 12.89, 246 completions; OSU 6th @ 14.55 yards, 202 completions; UM 70th @ 11.94 yards, 175 completions; TCU 17th @ 13.62 yards, 200 completions; Tenn 5th @ 15.14 yards, 230 completions).

Yards per Play: 70th (5.69 yards/play) (for reference, UGA 7th @ 7.1, 718 plays; OSU 1st @ 7.6, 660 plays; UM 20th @ 6.52, 706 plays; TCU 8th @ 6.99, 695 plays; Tenn 3rd @ 7.27, 748 plays).

Passing Yards by Game (includes garbage time yards): GT 259, FU 229, LT 241, WF 371, NCS 209, BC 220, FSU 203, SY 157, ND 191, UL 191.

Receiving Stats:

Williams – 43 for 473 yards, 3 TDs, Longest catch (LC) 59 yards
Allen – 28 for 339, 3 TDs, LC 41 yards
Ngata – 26 for 376, 2 TDs LC 46 yards
Shipley – 25 for 168, 0 TDs, LC 26 yards
Collins – 20 for 308, 5 TDs, LC 40 yards
Briningstool – 17 for 195, 4 TDs, LC 31 yards
Spector – 12 for 134, 2 TDs, LC 41 yards

Everyone else has 7 catches or less and the LC is 20 yards. An interesting thing to note is that Grisham’s receivers are making more catches than Jeff Scott’s last recruits are.

Why do the receiving stats matter? Because a true freshman who did not arrive on campus until the summer and didn’t go through spring ball is by far and away the best receiver on the team at this point. The last time we had similar circumstances with a true freshman receiver being the best receiver without spring ball and the more veteran receivers being subpar and having TEs and RBs make up a fair chunk of the receiving totals was…….2010…… the last year we ran a pro offense before switching to the spread (and firing our OC at the time Billy Napier to bring in Chad Morris…yea….that long ago). The similarities between this year and 2010 are concerning (take a look):

2010 Receiving Stats:
Nuk Hopkins – 52 for 637 yards, 4 TDs
Jamie Harper – 35 for 328 yards, 3 TDs
Dwayne Allen – 33 for 373 yards, 1 TD
Jaron Brown – 32 for 405 yards, 3 TDs
Marquan Jones – 21 for 184 yards, 0 TDs
Bryce McNeal – 19 for 187 yards, 0 TDs
Andre Ellington – 12 for 109 yards, 1 TDs
Brandon Ford – 10 for 78 yards, 2 TDs
Everyone else had no more than 4 catches with no more than 1 TD catch.

People want to talk about the QB situation, but in reality, it really doesn’t matter who the QB is when the WR corps has not lived up to the billing. Yes DJ holds the ball too long at times. Why? Because WRs are not getting open. Yes Cade leaves the pocket too soon and gets himself into rough situations. Why? Because the WRs are not getting open. As ESPN showed during our game this past weekend, we are 1 of the 5 teams this year to have not had a 100-yard receiver in any game. Being 106th in the country in passing yards per completion shows not only the poor WR play but also the lack of confidence in Streeter calling more downfield throws (and in my opinion, poor play calling in the passing game from Streeter for knowing his WRs are not great but not helping them by scheming them open, especially over the middle of the field). I hope Dabo is truly aware of this as he says he is, because something has to change here. Hopefully Williams and/or Collins can be that “Nuk” type of receiver and one of these other young WRs who are being redshirted or young guys in the 2023 class are in the ballpark of Sammy Watkin’s abilities because we need it. Our offense is going to be limited until the WRs play better, regardless of how the running game does.

References
2022 Stats: https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/21

NCAA College Football FBS current team Stats | NCAA.com

Discover the current NCAA FBS Football leaders in every stats category, as well as historic leaders.

2010 Stats: https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/clemson/2010.html

2010 Clemson Tigers Stats | College Football at Sports-Reference.com

2010 Clemson Tigers Stats

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The context is that they are indeed close to the same thing when you look at the WR experience level, the OC experience level, and the way both OCs approach the passing game. The schemes SHOULD be different, but are they really all that different? Yes we don't use the I formation anymore, but both systems utilize 2 backs a fair amount as well as the TEs to make up for a (you guessed it) subpar WR group. The stats do matter because we have enough data to identify some trends, and how they relate to the top ranked teams now is also relevant info. Now, to your points:

"DJ only plays on half the field, when was the last time you saw him throw to the opposite side of the field he started looking at, or even the middle of the field?"

-Last time I remember seeing it consistently (off the top of my head) was in the Wake game (2nd half ironically enough). He threw over the middle of the field in the UL game but out of an empty set to Williams near the goal line for a TD (which makes zero sense because you'd think throwing out of an empty set outside of the red zone would mean more space, yet we have very little space at the 4 yard line and called the play...).

"My observation (and I'm looking) is DJ is not really accurate on throws to crossing or slants. He rarely hits guys in stride on those"

-I'd be inclined to agree here, but we don't throw enough of those routes consistently this year to even have enough data to answer that. He threw plenty of slants and crosses in the 2 starts in 2020 in the BC and ND games.

"We don't use the middle of the field, don't know why, but we don't...and we do have a play to the middle of the field there is a 50% chance DJ will not see the guy, hold the ball too long and make an inaccurate throw or take the sack."

-Again, we don't have enough data to say for certain if what you said is correct. DJ isn't holding the ball too long when a primary or secondary read is open (as we've seen in various games this year, think the Wake game), he holds the ball too long when those first 2 reads are covered. The 3rd read seems to be the issue at thsi point (think Mafah in the ND game on 3rd down being open in front of the sticks. He was the 3rd or 4th read on that play and DJ didn't come back to him).

"90% is not the receivers"

-I'd say it's 50% Streeter, 30% Receivers, 20% DJ at this point, but that's just my opinion. WRs not able to win 50-50 balls is not a good thing because a portion of our offense calls for that. Streeter's obsession with making sure a huge portion of the guys catch the ball is a problem. He said "we spread the ball around" in today's presser yet throwing for 227.1 yards/game is hardly "spreading the ball around" effectively. There has been a fair amount of man to man coverage played against our receivers this year, and the fact they still can't get separation is indeed something that is on the receivers. Ngata of all of them as no excuse at this point.

"The ND pick 6, was that the receiver not knowing the route or was it DJ throwing to a different spot based on the read? Sure looked like DJ was expecting a stop, the corner sure knew it was going to be a stop... so is it miscommunication or just bad execution?"

-Dabo said (I think) in last week's post-wednesday practice Q&A that the receiver kept running when the call was for DJ to throw to the spot. Whether he was telling the truth or not (I don't know) is another question.

Compared to the current top teams in the rankings.....

Sadly, Clemson is NOT Championship ready!

Re: Sadly, Clemson is NOT Championship ready!

been saying that for 16 months now......

Re: been saying that for 16 months now......

Re: been saying that for 16 months now......

Re: been saying that for 16 months now......

Re: been saying that for 16 months now......

Re: been saying that for 16 months now......

Re: Compared to the current top teams in the rankings.....

Re: Compared to the current top teams in the rankings.....

That's sticking your head in the sand......

So are the Sanford Bulldogs. Your point?***

Samford. $&@*#(& auto-correct.***

9-1 or not there is no way you can watch this team

where we be if we win out --- CFP ??

Re: where we be if we win out --- CFP ??

Re: where we be if we win out --- CFP ??

Re: where we be if we win out --- CFP ??

Re: where we be if we win out --- CFP ??

Re: Compared to the current top teams in the rankings.....

Re: Compared to the current top teams in the rankings.....

Re: Compared to the current top teams in the rankings.....

bump***

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