Things to assess after NC State

Oct 16, 2016, 12:51 AM

I'd like to start by saying, WOW. What a roller coaster of a game, one of the most insane football games I've ever witnessed. Hats off to NC State for how well they played, they certainly deserve to be in the top 25 after today.

There are a few things I’d like to assess after today’s game, a few things that concerned me that need to addressed and fixed before FSU.

Punt Returns: As electric as Ray Ray is with the ball in his hands, it is not always certain that he can keep the ball in his hands. In my mind, 3 strikes and you’re out. After dropping another punt today (that he luckily recovered) and can no longer stomach to see Ray Ray back on punt returns. He has proven to be unreliable and I think it’s time we put either Tay Scott or Hunter back on punt return.

Ball Security: With that being said, I am beyond concerned with our ability to hold onto the football. Fumble, after fumble, after fumble. It’s been a reoccurring theme as of late, and the fact that we’re able to pull out wins with this many turnovers is nothing short of a miracle. I hope ball security will be the main focus of practice. 2 hands on the football fellas, cover the points.

Feaster: I don’t know about you, but one of the things I was most excited to see this season was our 5 Star recruit with 4.3 speed. When we saw Wayne go down from that horrific helmet-to-helmet hit, the first person I thought of was Tavien. Why not unleash him in this situation. I was kind of shocked to see how many touches Fuller got, he has never impressed me in his time at Clemson, why in such an important game put the ball in his hands so many times, especially on a day where our line could not block for sh*t! The delayed handoffs to CJ up the middle for no gain were making me nauseous.

Play Calling: There is no question that Clemson was out-coached in this game. I’m not talking about Dabo, I’m talking about our co-O/C’s who had me scratching my head most of the game. The 2-minute drill was a thing of perfection, but other play calling concerned me. 4th and 1 on the goal line, it seems like the Jumbo package is almost unstoppable, why take Dex and Christian out after that timeout? Like I mentioned before, the delayed handoffs up the middle when the box is stacked with 8 defenders…I couldn’t wrap my head around it. It looked like we only had a few plays in our playbook, the offense put up great numbers nonetheless, but I really wanted to see more 4-WR sets where DeShaun could roll out and have the option to run our pass. I think if we played every drive like there were 2 minutes on the clock we’d be unstoppable.

Offensive Line: “Mean and Nasty?” This offensive line was hyped up a bit too much in the off-season. NC-State dominated the line of scrimmage the entire game, and it left the offense 1-dimensional, especially with the absence of the Wayne-Train. DeShaun took some hits; his jersey was filthy by the end of the game. There were a few plays where guys looked like they just gave up. Maybe I just miss Mac-Lain. I’d like to see more fire from our boys up front.
Side note: Did anyone see Korrin Wiggin’s td? State’s RB was knocking our boys around, I saw Van Smith go flying a few times. Maybe I didn’t notice him.

Overall a win is a win, God is good, and I think he’s a Tiger fan! Just like the “Tiger-Talk” twitter account said, whens the Marcus Edmond statue going up?! ####, it’s good to be a Clemson Tiger!

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our play-calling was atrocious, then color me guilty... because our play-calling was atrocious... especially on short yardage. At this point in the season, the opposing DCs are pretty confident they can call the play for us, which is just maybe why they stop us consistently. So, Jeff? Tony? Do you have anything else?

And it's not simply in short yardage... it appears that we have two running plays between the tackles, one outside running play (the pitch to the TB), and Heaven knows where the jet sweep is. Come on, guys... how about a little imagination? You'd be surprised how effective it is to NOT do what the defense is expecting. Heck, it works against us, so why not give the opponent a little dose?

Tavien Feaster? Was he dressed for the game? I thought he was "the future of the Clemson running game." Well, when the "present" goes down with a concussion, why not put "the future" on the field? Yeah, that may be second-guessing, and there might be a reason why he was not used. If so, I apologize. I (mostly) respect our coaching staff to make those kinds of decisions, and although I'd love to hear an explanation, I'm not entitled to one. I've gotta tell you, though, it's getting hard to just go along with the "hey, shut up-- we won" attitude as we slide down the rankings with no marque games left. Our schedule is too "easy" this year to keep squeaking by in games that we should be showing off.

Final thought: Thank you, Marcus Edmond... again!

Go Tigers!

Things to assess after NC State

some worthy mentions

Re: Things to assess after NC State

If it's armchair coaching to observe that...

Re: If it's armchair coaching to observe that...

Re: If it's armchair coaching to observe that...

You Forgot: We Are 7-0.....

We are 7-0 despite ourselves.

Re: You Forgot: We Are 7-0.....

while that may be true

Wasn't kicker trying to kick around Clemson's DT's ?

I'll Grant you that

Re: Things to assess after NC State

Excell at what?

Re: Things to assess after NC State

Re: Things to assess after NC State

Re: Things to assess after NC State

Our OC's have only losrt1 game ?

Good post....Agree***

Re: Things to assess after NC State

Wait....I saw the entire game. Korrin Wiggins had a TD?***

TO's happen, otherwise the game plan and play calling

Re: Things to assess after NC State

Good post, I agree with every one of your assessment points.***

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