Of late we've spent a ton of time in these video breakdowns focused solely on the offense.
And for good reason, given the epic struggles.
Yet that's come at the expense of adequately digging into some of the notable defensive trends over the last month or so -- so many of them good.
With that, this week we'll do two video-review segments. Defense gets featured tomorrow, and offense today.
And yeah, it's certainly a sight for sore eyes to be marveling at the good rather than the bad.
There was a lot of good against Notre Dame, and it of course started with a running game that sprang to life even with Tristan Leigh moving from right guard to full-time left tackle, and the guard positions being manned by ... gulp ... Trent Howard and Harris Sewell.
A week ago, Cade Klubnik talked about how great it'd be if they got off to a fast start. If you put points on the board early, you put pressure on the other team to score and you take away the luxury of them being able to sit back, play conservatively and wait for you to make the game-turning mistakes.
Yes, it did feel like Notre Dame was doing this in the second half as it battled poor field position. Clemson seemed incapable of landing the knockout punch, and that certainly represents the next obstacle for this offense -- putting a complete game together and being able to get out of its own way enough to pull away.
But the first half output is major progress from what we saw against N.C. State, Miami and Wake Forest.
Total points in the first half in those three games: 21
And at halftime last week: 24.
Yes, seven of those points came on a pick-6. But still, even 17 points by the offense was a vast improvement.
Last week we also asked Klubnik about the struggles on first down. He said he didn't have a comment on it and left it at that.
My rough guess was that maybe he didn't want to come off as calling out the offensive line or running game. He seemed a little uncomfortable talking about it.
But boy was there a massive difference on first down in the first half Saturday.
Take a look at the runs on first down, in chronological order:
Phil Mafah plus 10
Mafah plus 5
Mafah plus 41
Mafah plus 2
Mafah plus 7
Mafah plus 5
Domonique Thomas plus 10
Mafah plus 5
That's eight runs on first down for a total of 85 yards.
In the first half of the previous three games, Clemson ran on first down 17 times and produced 40 yards.
Yeah, pretty big deal.
After Clemson rushed for 31 yards total at Miami, Dabo Swinney was asked a pointed question about the lack of a running game.
"If you watched the game, their style of play tonight was to make us throw the football. They lined up and it was Bear fronts and Cover 1, press-Cover 1. You're not going to make a living running on Bear fronts. This was a team that said, 'OK, you're going to have to make some plays.' And we made some plays. And we were effective, but we just didn't finish. We've run the ball well all year. But we weren't anywhere near as good as we needed to be tonight. ... Style of play tonight, it was pretty evident early on that we were going to have to throw the ball to win."
On his radio show this past Monday, Swinney said one of the things he loved most about the Notre Dame game -- and loves most in general -- was running the ball against a defense designed to stop it.
So yes, it can be done. Just because a defense schemes to take away the run doesn't mean you're forced to stink at it.
When you go back and watch the running plays closely, certainly you're impressed with the blocking.
But goodness, Mafah was just on a different level from what we're used to seeing.
I'm not going to bag on Will Shipley here, and Swinney said just yesterday that Shipley is still a pretty special back too.
But to date we simply have not seen the combination of vision, shake, power and acceleration that Mafah brought against the Irish.
There have been times this season when it's been fair to question those qualities with Shipley.
Mafah's feel was just so darned good.
Yes, the offensive line was the biggest story of this game. Because I'm not sure even anyone in the locker room thought that was possible.
But Mafah's brilliance was so much more than just running through an open hole and taking off.
On to some fun clips:
Wow, haven't seen the linemen this far downfield very often this year:
This cut is so swift, almost like a downhill slalom skier:
He just seemed to know where the creases were:
Not great blocking here, but he still slithers his way to a good gain:
Speaking of slithering, an ode to Thomas here. And by the way, look at how many defenders are in the box. Doesn't matter:
Last year in South Bend, Benjamin Morrison elevated his brand by taking over the game and taking back an interception 96 yards for a touchdown.
A year later, Mafah was planting him into the turf on one of Swinney's favorite plays of the day:
Not great blocking here, but there doesn't need to be when your running back is finding and attacking the creases:
And this is just special:
And for good reason, given the epic struggles.
Yet that's come at the expense of adequately digging into some of the notable defensive trends over the last month or so -- so many of them good.
With that, this week we'll do two video-review segments. Defense gets featured tomorrow, and offense today.
And yeah, it's certainly a sight for sore eyes to be marveling at the good rather than the bad.
There was a lot of good against Notre Dame, and it of course started with a running game that sprang to life even with Tristan Leigh moving from right guard to full-time left tackle, and the guard positions being manned by ... gulp ... Trent Howard and Harris Sewell.
A week ago, Cade Klubnik talked about how great it'd be if they got off to a fast start. If you put points on the board early, you put pressure on the other team to score and you take away the luxury of them being able to sit back, play conservatively and wait for you to make the game-turning mistakes.
Yes, it did feel like Notre Dame was doing this in the second half as it battled poor field position. Clemson seemed incapable of landing the knockout punch, and that certainly represents the next obstacle for this offense -- putting a complete game together and being able to get out of its own way enough to pull away.
But the first half output is major progress from what we saw against N.C. State, Miami and Wake Forest.
Total points in the first half in those three games: 21
And at halftime last week: 24.
Yes, seven of those points came on a pick-6. But still, even 17 points by the offense was a vast improvement.
Last week we also asked Klubnik about the struggles on first down. He said he didn't have a comment on it and left it at that.
My rough guess was that maybe he didn't want to come off as calling out the offensive line or running game. He seemed a little uncomfortable talking about it.
But boy was there a massive difference on first down in the first half Saturday.
Take a look at the runs on first down, in chronological order:
Phil Mafah plus 10
Mafah plus 5
Mafah plus 41
Mafah plus 2
Mafah plus 7
Mafah plus 5
Domonique Thomas plus 10
Mafah plus 5
That's eight runs on first down for a total of 85 yards.
In the first half of the previous three games, Clemson ran on first down 17 times and produced 40 yards.
Yeah, pretty big deal.
After Clemson rushed for 31 yards total at Miami, Dabo Swinney was asked a pointed question about the lack of a running game.
"If you watched the game, their style of play tonight was to make us throw the football. They lined up and it was Bear fronts and Cover 1, press-Cover 1. You're not going to make a living running on Bear fronts. This was a team that said, 'OK, you're going to have to make some plays.' And we made some plays. And we were effective, but we just didn't finish. We've run the ball well all year. But we weren't anywhere near as good as we needed to be tonight. ... Style of play tonight, it was pretty evident early on that we were going to have to throw the ball to win."
On his radio show this past Monday, Swinney said one of the things he loved most about the Notre Dame game -- and loves most in general -- was running the ball against a defense designed to stop it.
So yes, it can be done. Just because a defense schemes to take away the run doesn't mean you're forced to stink at it.
When you go back and watch the running plays closely, certainly you're impressed with the blocking.
But goodness, Mafah was just on a different level from what we're used to seeing.
I'm not going to bag on Will Shipley here, and Swinney said just yesterday that Shipley is still a pretty special back too.
But to date we simply have not seen the combination of vision, shake, power and acceleration that Mafah brought against the Irish.
There have been times this season when it's been fair to question those qualities with Shipley.
Mafah's feel was just so darned good.
Yes, the offensive line was the biggest story of this game. Because I'm not sure even anyone in the locker room thought that was possible.
But Mafah's brilliance was so much more than just running through an open hole and taking off.
On to some fun clips:
Wow, haven't seen the linemen this far downfield very often this year:
This cut is so swift, almost like a downhill slalom skier:
He just seemed to know where the creases were:
Not great blocking here, but he still slithers his way to a good gain:
Speaking of slithering, an ode to Thomas here. And by the way, look at how many defenders are in the box. Doesn't matter:
Last year in South Bend, Benjamin Morrison elevated his brand by taking over the game and taking back an interception 96 yards for a touchdown.
A year later, Mafah was planting him into the turf on one of Swinney's favorite plays of the day:
Not great blocking here, but there doesn't need to be when your running back is finding and attacking the creases:
And this is just special:
