Offensive Identity Eludes Clemson Thus Far |
CLEMSON - The Wake Forest team traveling to Death Valley Saturday has taken a
cue from its head coach and become a tough, physical, run-oriented football team. That the Demon Deacons reflect Jim Grobe's personality is no accident. He had the same effect on a downtrodden Ohio University program, bringing it a certain level of respectability before leaving the Bobcats for Winston-Salem. Meanwhile, Clemson - by head coach Tommy Bowden's own admission - still searches for an identity halfway through the 2002 season. At least that's the case offensively, where the yards have come in bunches but the points have not. "Defensively we've been really consistent. Offensively we've been a little more inconsistent," Bowden said following Thursday's practice. "We lost quite a bit from last year, the interior of the line and our quarterback. We had been plucking along pretty good, (but) turning the ball over, that's the biggest disappointment as much as we've talked about it." Clemson's offense took a maddening step backward last Saturday at Virginia, which was a textbook example of a team - and perhaps a coaching staff - still trying to find itself. Though it compiled over 400 yards for the fourth consecutive game, the statistics were lopsided. Clemson had 251 yards total offense in the first half, 174 of it rushing. The final totals were 412 and 207, respectively. The Tigers ran 30 plays in the first quarter alone, yet only 26 in the second half. Yusef Kelly, who has seven rushing touchdowns this season and has menaced opponents in the red zone, touched the ball just once in a first-and-goal situation from the Virginia seven. Clemson settled for a 19-yard field goal on fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line after driving 93 yards in 19 plays. Meanwhile, despite running the ball at will for most of the first half, the coaching staff suddenly began resorting to trickery in short-yardage situations. Once, on fourth-and-two from the Cavs' 36, rather than run straight at Virginia the call was to shift four players at the last minute into a diamond-shaped formation wide left. Willie Simmons' pass to Derrick Hamilton was high and outside, the ball sailed out of bounds and Virginia took over, another scoring opportunity wasted. The same play in a similar situation against Georgia Tech also failed earlier this season. Both times the play was open for big yardage. Both times the offense failed to execute. Run when expected to pass. Pass when expected to run. Not bad strategy if properly executed. But Clemson hasn't in several clutch situations this season. So exactly what is the offense's identity supposed to be? "To me it becomes a point of execution, to be able to line up and whatever they're in you take what they give you," Bowden said. "Most good offenses can do that. We can't execute at that level of efficiency right now. I'm not going to stand there and say, on fourth-and-four, I'm gonna line up and run right at them even though they've got everybody up there (waiting). Nobody can do that. "So the identity I would want would come from an execution standpoint, not from saying I'm a 75 percent run and 25 percent pass (offense). We're not getting points, and we're not executing because we're turning the ball over. "The identity comes from being able to execute. I'm looking for the identity of being a real good team." NOTES - Wide receiver Kevin Youngblood is listed as questionable for Saturday. J.J. McKelvey took most of the snaps with the first team at the X receiver. - Bowden said he'll wait until watching both Wynn Kopp and walk-on Kyle Tucker punt in pregame before making a decision on which one kicks vs. Wake Forest.
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