My thoughts: Why CLEMSON wins this game. (Long - sorry)

Jan 11, 2016, 8:07 AM

Having watched several Bammer games, I have come to the conclusion that they are very similar to OU, which I found odd. Here's how they compare:
-Bammer has Henry and OU has Perine, both arguably 2 of the best RB's in the country, so that's a wash.
-Bammer has Rigley and OU has Shepard. Both are really good receivers, so that's a wash.
-Bammer has Drake and OU has Mixon. Both are deadly when receiving out of the backfield or getting them in space. That is a wash.
-Bammer has a great DLine and OU's DLine was pretty darn good, but Bammer edges OU in that dept.

Now here's how I see it:

Mayfield is tons greater at passing and at scrambling to extend plays that Coker will ever dream of being. Mayfield can hit his target with laser accuracy - for SHORT stuff (slants and screens). Coker is okay at the short stuff, but not really a huge threat as he misses too many targets. NEITHER Coker nor Mayfield can hit the long ball with any decent percentage, so neither Bammer nor OU throw the deep routes very often, and usually miss when they do. BTW: I hope Mayfield has recovered from playing the CLEMSON D.

Perine was just as effective as Henry will be. Henry is no real threat unless he gets thru the line and is able to pick up speed. Get him down near the LOS and he goes down pretty readily and has little impact on moving the chains. Henry usually runs between the tackles just like Perine did. BTW: I hope Perine has recovered from playing the CLEMSON D.

Drake is awesome in space and runs outside the tackles like Mixon did. Drake is deadly when receiving those slants or slip-screens, and runs east-west if covered on the short routes. Coker is not as effective at hitting Drake like Mayfield connected with Shepard or Mixon on the short routes, and Bammer won't hurt us any more with Drake than Mixon did. BTW: I hope Mixon has recovered from playing the CLEMSON D.

The ONLY real difference is that CLEMSON could run against the OU D, but I doubt we are very effective doing that against the Bammer D. We need to PASS, PASS, and PASS some more. We should be able to attack the middle, the boundary, and over the top as the Bammer secondary looks like deer in headlights. I would call their secondary a "Swiss Cheese D" as it is full of holes. DW4 will carve them up like a fine surgeon would do.

Yes - Bammer will score, but I don't see them scoring more than 17-24 against our D. CLEMSON should score 40+. Yes - you heard that right. If DW4 doesn't have enough time to throw due to our OLine not pass-protecting long enough, then THAT is where our problem comes in. Bammer will beat us if and only if our OLine is not able to protect DW4. So if our OLine has not been disrespected enough by the entire country to step up to this huge challenge, then we will lose. It is that simple.

JK

One more thing. If CLEMSON can manage to strike early and get a 2-3 TD lead, then Bammer will have to change their game plan and PASS more. CLEMSON wins going away if they do and it will be a bloodbath and Bammer moms will be crying in their beer. Bammer is not really a team that can strike easily as they tend to grind it out with the "3 yards and a cloud of dust" mentality. They have not yet met anything like what is coming their way.

Anyway - it should be a good game and I expect CLEMSON to set the world straight tonight.

GO TIGERS!!! Bring the Championship back home.

BTW: OU would have beaten Bammer, so the committee protected Bammer just as many suspected. The truth hurts.

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

This a pretty detailed assessment of the game. I agree with most of your points. I didn't realize how similar OU and Alabama were. But I will say Alabama has another edge over OU in this area: recruiting. When Alabama sends in their 2nd unit, they will still be 5 star talent. Don't believe OU had that luxury. The X-factor will be Watson's passing. If he is on (especially on the deep ball), then that can open up the run for us. But I expect Alabama to keep 2 safeties deep and challenge their massive front to stop our run. With that being said, I believe we always have the advantage. If they bring the safeties up, we can throw the ball deep. If they stay deep, we have 2 explosive runners. Plus we have 4-5 WRs that we TRUST. It's less about the stats they have and more about the trust Watson has in the WR group. I mean Thompson caught a crucial catch against SC on a critical drive. I'm looking for our coaches to find creative ways to get McCloud the ball.

My thoughts: Why CLEMSON wins this game. (Long - sorry)

Re: My thoughts: Why CLEMSON wins this game. (Long - sorry)

Re: My thoughts: Why CLEMSON wins this game. (Long - sorry)

TigerBoard POTD