Hangin' with Chad |
CLEMSON – Offensive coordinator Chad Morris left the field after Saturday’s 43-19 win over Troy in a bad mood.
The Clemson offense shrugged off a sluggish first half by scoring 30 points and ringing up 347 total yards in the third and fourth quarters, but Morris said he wasn’t pleased with the effort. “We are not close to where we want to be as an offensive unit,” Morris told the media Monday afternoon in the WestZone. “We were not physical enough. We are going to run the football – that is what we are going to do. I don’t want to say we got tired or gassed or drained or whatever. That’s not what I want to come out here and tell you. But I do think at some point in time we were not as physical as we should have been. And that is on me. “We get about 14 reps a week against good-on-good competition as far as inside with our number one defense. I didn’t think last week we were very physical during that 14 play time. It’s almost like we backed off with game prep and felt like we didn’t have to be as physical. I think it showed a little bit. So I challenged them this morning. We are going to get 14 good reps. I think we go seven minutes a day on it. We are going to get something good out of seven minutes. It may be seven minutes of up downs. We are going to get something good for seven minutes. When we have to have a yard we are going to come get that yard.” Morris said that the tempo was not even close to what he wanted, and he said that explained why he wasn’t happy following the game. “No. Not even close. No. No,” Morris said emphatically. “It starts with the quarterback. You saw it in the second half, when he picked up his pace and the tempo was going well we moved the ball. I thought we played well when the tempo was going well. I walked off the field after 468 yards and 43 points and I was ticked off. I thought we should have had more against a very good Troy team. They are a talented team. I heard we had the best opener as far as yardage and things like that and I didn’t care. This is our standard and we are going to play fast and physical.” The Tigers had trouble running the football at times –especially between the tackles – and Morris said there were too many mental errors. “I think we rushed for 197 yards and our goal was 200,” he said. “I’d probably have been a little easier to deal with if we had rushed for 198 yards and got that one more yard [on failed fourth down near the goal line] and scored on that fourth down. But it was too many mental errors. We have way too many mental errors. From a quarterback standpoint all the way down. I know it is to be expected a little bit in the first game with a new offensive coordinator and a new system. I knew we were going to have some mental errors, but we have to cut back on those.” He also said he thought Boyd didn’t trust his coaching and reads enough in the first half. “I thought in the first half he had a glazed over look,” Morris said. “He was kind of hazed over looking at me, and I thought he was staring into outer space a little bit. He was reverting back to backyard football instead of trusting his reads.” The Tigers had six three-and-outs during the game, and Morris said that was way too many for a team that wants to run 80-plus snaps per game. “A three-and-out costs you a minimum of three more snaps, so we cost ourselves basically 18 more snaps in the game,” he said. “We were on track to get our 80 snaps, but we couldn’t get over one bad play in a series. Whether it was dropping back and not hitting the hot or making the wrong read, and Tajh even fell down one time. We just weren’t good enough to overcome that early in the game.” True freshman receiver
Sammy Watkins “I thought Sammy – with the ball in his hands – did a lot of great things,” he said. “But when the ball wasn’t in his hands he didn’t do a whole lot. We have to get Sammy to understand that when the ball is not in his hands is just as important as when the ball is in his hands. A lot of that is just youth and being young and playing that way. He is definitely a difference maker, and we all saw what he can do. All these guys, I know they can catch the football or they wouldn’t be here. The problem isn’t route running – because there is a chance they are going to get the ball. The problem is blocking. But they have to learn to play hard every play without the ball, and they haven’t gotten there yet. But there is no question we are going to get there.” Junior tight end
Dwayne Allen “Dwayne was over there talking to me and telling me what he was seeing, and that was great to see,” Morris said. “A lot of guys, when they talk to you, they have an agenda. At some point they are going to say the ball should be coming their way. With Dwayne, it wasn’t that. We were having conversations about the running game, and he was telling me what he was seeing and what we should be doing. He was over there talking to Tajh and settling him down.” 
Sammy Watkins
Fr. Wide Receiver
#7 6-2, 200
Fort Myers, FL
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had an impressive debut – seven catches for 81 yards and a touchdown – but Morris said Watkins needs to also learn to play without the ball. 
Dwayne Allen
RS Jr. Tight End
#83 6-3, 245
Fayetteville, NC
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did draw praise from Morris because of his leadership.
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