First things first. I don't hate Elliot and Scott and really want them to succeed. It's pretty hard to argue with 4-0 with two of the games that I was REALLY concerned about coming into the season out of the way. So I'm certainly not screaming about the offensive play calling. In fact with the two games (UL and ND) playing out like they did, you can make a pretty good case for the conservative play calling. Again, I'm not alarmed by the play calling at all, and there's an argument to be made that we are actually moving forward as a program. When was the last time a Clemson team could line up against a good defensive front 7 (UL and ND) and simply put the game on the OL (and our defense) and expect to succeed? I'd suggest that it's been 25 years plus and if you go back that far, you'll see Clemson winning some close, ugly games. Just a side note, If ND, Clemson, and UL were in the SEC, this would be called big boy football and Finebaum (spelling) would be raving about us.
Obviously, we are used to slinging the ball around under Morris's system and this year (without him) has played out pretty differently than past seasons. However, when you go back and look at Morris's offenses, there's a BIG difference between what he WANTED to do and what he HAD to do to win. An ideal Morris offense (just like GM has run at Auburn (not this year obviously) is based on a spread look with a power (inside) run game. A perfect game under this would be a 60/40 mix of run and pass with 3 or 4 deep shots per half. Clemson has never been able to do this b/c we've never had a good OL before. While I still don't think our OL is good (yet), one could make the case that these guys are the best (at run blocking anyway) we've had since we started running Morris's system. Perhaps these back to back 200 yard rushing games (ND = 199) are the beginning of that long awaited power running game?
Now all that being said, I do think that there is something wrong with our passing game. We aren't seeing the intermediate/over the middle passing that marked DW's success and opened up the long ball last year. That could be a combo of MW being hurt (and WRs not named Renfrow not stepping into the roll), defenses covering us differently, and MAYBE DW not being as accurate this year. Possibly there is some combo of all these things. Case in point that is pretty glaring... On 3rd and long, we are not throwing at the sticks regularly. We are throwing short a LOT and asking our WRs to make that extra yardage after the catch. To their credit, they are getting the 1st down some, but we are punting a lot too.
Bottom line is that I'd like to be able to hit a 10 yard curl/hook or a 10 yard crossing pattern on 3rd and 8. We aren't doing that much and with our WR/skill players, those plays should be there.
Anyway, going forward against GT this week, it will be interesting to see what our offense looks like. I don't think anyone is going to call GT's defense elite or even close to that. So I'll be really interested to see what DW and the receiving corps do in this one. I expect us to run the ball as well (especially if we can to keep our defense off the field), but a 3rd game of ineffectual passing will cause me come real concern.
Obviously, we are used to slinging the ball around under Morris's system and this year (without him) has played out pretty differently than past seasons. However, when you go back and look at Morris's offenses, there's a BIG difference between what he WANTED to do and what he HAD to do to win. An ideal Morris offense (just like GM has run at Auburn (not this year obviously) is based on a spread look with a power (inside) run game. A perfect game under this would be a 60/40 mix of run and pass with 3 or 4 deep shots per half. Clemson has never been able to do this b/c we've never had a good OL before. While I still don't think our OL is good (yet), one could make the case that these guys are the best (at run blocking anyway) we've had since we started running Morris's system. Perhaps these back to back 200 yard rushing games (ND = 199) are the beginning of that long awaited power running game?
Now all that being said, I do think that there is something wrong with our passing game. We aren't seeing the intermediate/over the middle passing that marked DW's success and opened up the long ball last year. That could be a combo of MW being hurt (and WRs not named Renfrow not stepping into the roll), defenses covering us differently, and MAYBE DW not being as accurate this year. Possibly there is some combo of all these things. Case in point that is pretty glaring... On 3rd and long, we are not throwing at the sticks regularly. We are throwing short a LOT and asking our WRs to make that extra yardage after the catch. To their credit, they are getting the 1st down some, but we are punting a lot too.
Bottom line is that I'd like to be able to hit a 10 yard curl/hook or a 10 yard crossing pattern on 3rd and 8. We aren't doing that much and with our WR/skill players, those plays should be there.
Anyway, going forward against GT this week, it will be interesting to see what our offense looks like. I don't think anyone is going to call GT's defense elite or even close to that. So I'll be really interested to see what DW and the receiving corps do in this one. I expect us to run the ball as well (especially if we can to keep our defense off the field), but a 3rd game of ineffectual passing will cause me come real concern.
