THURSDAY CLEMSON FOOTBALL NUGGETS
By: Larry Williams
Last October, Clemson was a couple days removed from a win at Florida State that extended the Tigers' win streak over the Seminoles to seven games.
The Tigers were up 34-14 on the Noles at one point.
Impressive stuff.
The Tigers walked out with their third consecutive win in Tallahassee (and yeah, probably should've been four straight).
Impressive stuff.
But as Nick Eason sat down to speak with the media less than 48 hours later, he was not in a good place. Largely because Florida State's blockers pushed Clemson's defenders out of their place way too often that night.
It wasn't just the let-up that followed the aforementioned 20-point lead, as FSU broke countless tackles in storming back to within six points.
Even before that comeback, regularly through the game Clemson had trouble setting the edge and getting off of blocks from FSU's big and physical linemen, receivers and tight ends.
Here is a digest of Eason's thoughts and concerns from that day:
"We just didn't play good football, Clemson-football defense. We've got to do a better job of getting back to the basics and work on technique and fundamentals. That's what makes the schemes work, just being able to do the little things.
"Those guys got after us. The game of football comes down to 1-on-1 matchups. You can draw it up any way you want, but it's going to come down to you winning your 1-on-1 matchup and that's going to be the case every single week. And that's just the game of football.
"There were times where they just mashed us up and wanted it more than we wanted it. And that showed up on tape -- up front, on the back end. They made some plays. But it starts up front. And I've got to do a better job of challenging our guys. I put a lot of pressure on the guys up front: 'Hey man, we've got to do a great job of knocking things back, getting off blocks, creating clear lanes for our linebackers to come downhill to make plays. ...
"Too many yards after contact. Guys missing sack opportunities. ... We've just got to accept the challenge. We've got to get guys better, and it starts with me. ... At the end of the day it's just how bad do you want it and do you want it more than your opponent? It starts inside your heart, you know?
"I'm not the Wizard of Oz or Jesus. Some things you've got to be born with. But it's my job to make sure guys are ready. Whatever I did last week, I've got to do a better job this week. I just didn't think guys were consistently ready to go out there and play for four quarters and dominate like the expectation of our defensive line should be. ...
"I think (defensive line) has been on a rollercoaster. We've had good weeks and bad weeks and good weeks and bad weeks. And that's as a group, not just one or two players. ... In order for us to get where we want to go, everybody's got to show up week-in and week-out. I just think we've been inconsistent with our level of play. We've just got to have the eye of the Tiger and be able to dominate our opponents. ...
"It was very disappointing. I have a high level of expectation for the dudes we have in this room, man. We've got some of the best talent in the country. I talked about that in the offseason. ... I've got to get them better. ... We've got the dudes who can do it. We've got some of the best depth in the country. It starts with a mindset."
You get the gist.
The developments on defense that night in Tallahassee provided foreshadowing for what was coming the next time Clemson ran up against a big, physical offense.
Two games later, Notre Dame physically overwhelmed Clemson's defense in a manner that has rarely if ever been seen during Dabo Swinney's coaching tenure.
Against the Irish and Seminoles last year, Clemson allowed 469 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 81 rushes for an average of 5.79 yards per attempt.
Nothing flukey about that. And, mind you, that was with a number of guys who are no longer around including Myles Murphy, KJ Henry, Bryan Bresee and Trenton Simpson.
That's simply a case of Clemson not measuring up at the grown-man football thing, and that's precisely what Eason was getting at two days after the victory in Tallahassee.
For all the talk of the offense and Cade Klubnik, for all the sensation created this week by Dabo going and pulling a kicker "off the beach in Charleston," we simply can't get away from one basic premise about this matchup Saturday:
Once again, this defensive line was supposed to rank among the best in college football.
Once again, what we've seen thus far (largely in the Tigers' only Power 5 game thus far, against Duke) has given us reason to wonder if they're all that.
They simply have to be all that Saturday. There's no other conclusion to be made about this matchup.
And that's the focus of our weekly video-review feature.
Here's Trey Benson off the left side last year:
Clemson has the numbers to stop the run here but FSU still slams it right up the gut:
Over the years some Clemson fans have grown tired of seeing the Tigers run so many wide-receiver screens, in part because it feels like those screens seldom produce big plays.
Florida State will screen you to death with both its receivers and running backs. And the Seminoles are really good at it in large part because they have large people blocking on the outside:
Earlier this week Wes Goodwin spoke specifically of the importance of his linebackers helping set the edge by winning matchups against tight ends.
This is what he's talking about as Barrett Carter does a really nice job of stringing it out and forcing it back inside:
Once again on the "big bodies are better blockers" theme:
And continuing to hammer it on the very next play. Looks like FSU gets away with a hold here on Tre Williams, but still a really nice piece of running by Benson:
Xavier Thomas played 32 snaps in last year's game. FSU ran at him often:
From our vantage point, XT has been covered up a lot through three games this season. You wonder if Goodwin has something cooked up to try to better fortify the edges, though he told me earlier this week he's been happy with that element thus far with Thomas, Justin Mascoll and TJ Parker.
We've spent a lot of time admiring FSU's bruising approach.
But here's the thing: If you control the line of scrimmage, you disrupt the entire flow of what they want to do.
As you can see in the following four clips:
FSU's opener this season is known largely for the Seminoles pulling away late and bagging a resounding victory over a team from the mighty SEC.
But go back and check out the finer points of matters when the game was still competitive, and you see cases of LSU upending FSU's rhythm with its speed and physicality up front:
Continued in post just below ...
By: Larry Williams
Last October, Clemson was a couple days removed from a win at Florida State that extended the Tigers' win streak over the Seminoles to seven games.
The Tigers were up 34-14 on the Noles at one point.
Impressive stuff.
The Tigers walked out with their third consecutive win in Tallahassee (and yeah, probably should've been four straight).
Impressive stuff.
But as Nick Eason sat down to speak with the media less than 48 hours later, he was not in a good place. Largely because Florida State's blockers pushed Clemson's defenders out of their place way too often that night.
It wasn't just the let-up that followed the aforementioned 20-point lead, as FSU broke countless tackles in storming back to within six points.
Even before that comeback, regularly through the game Clemson had trouble setting the edge and getting off of blocks from FSU's big and physical linemen, receivers and tight ends.
Here is a digest of Eason's thoughts and concerns from that day:
"We just didn't play good football, Clemson-football defense. We've got to do a better job of getting back to the basics and work on technique and fundamentals. That's what makes the schemes work, just being able to do the little things.
"Those guys got after us. The game of football comes down to 1-on-1 matchups. You can draw it up any way you want, but it's going to come down to you winning your 1-on-1 matchup and that's going to be the case every single week. And that's just the game of football.
"There were times where they just mashed us up and wanted it more than we wanted it. And that showed up on tape -- up front, on the back end. They made some plays. But it starts up front. And I've got to do a better job of challenging our guys. I put a lot of pressure on the guys up front: 'Hey man, we've got to do a great job of knocking things back, getting off blocks, creating clear lanes for our linebackers to come downhill to make plays. ...
"Too many yards after contact. Guys missing sack opportunities. ... We've just got to accept the challenge. We've got to get guys better, and it starts with me. ... At the end of the day it's just how bad do you want it and do you want it more than your opponent? It starts inside your heart, you know?
"I'm not the Wizard of Oz or Jesus. Some things you've got to be born with. But it's my job to make sure guys are ready. Whatever I did last week, I've got to do a better job this week. I just didn't think guys were consistently ready to go out there and play for four quarters and dominate like the expectation of our defensive line should be. ...
"I think (defensive line) has been on a rollercoaster. We've had good weeks and bad weeks and good weeks and bad weeks. And that's as a group, not just one or two players. ... In order for us to get where we want to go, everybody's got to show up week-in and week-out. I just think we've been inconsistent with our level of play. We've just got to have the eye of the Tiger and be able to dominate our opponents. ...
"It was very disappointing. I have a high level of expectation for the dudes we have in this room, man. We've got some of the best talent in the country. I talked about that in the offseason. ... I've got to get them better. ... We've got the dudes who can do it. We've got some of the best depth in the country. It starts with a mindset."
You get the gist.
The developments on defense that night in Tallahassee provided foreshadowing for what was coming the next time Clemson ran up against a big, physical offense.
Two games later, Notre Dame physically overwhelmed Clemson's defense in a manner that has rarely if ever been seen during Dabo Swinney's coaching tenure.
Against the Irish and Seminoles last year, Clemson allowed 469 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 81 rushes for an average of 5.79 yards per attempt.
Nothing flukey about that. And, mind you, that was with a number of guys who are no longer around including Myles Murphy, KJ Henry, Bryan Bresee and Trenton Simpson.
That's simply a case of Clemson not measuring up at the grown-man football thing, and that's precisely what Eason was getting at two days after the victory in Tallahassee.
For all the talk of the offense and Cade Klubnik, for all the sensation created this week by Dabo going and pulling a kicker "off the beach in Charleston," we simply can't get away from one basic premise about this matchup Saturday:
Once again, this defensive line was supposed to rank among the best in college football.
Once again, what we've seen thus far (largely in the Tigers' only Power 5 game thus far, against Duke) has given us reason to wonder if they're all that.
They simply have to be all that Saturday. There's no other conclusion to be made about this matchup.
And that's the focus of our weekly video-review feature.
Here's Trey Benson off the left side last year:
Clemson has the numbers to stop the run here but FSU still slams it right up the gut:
Over the years some Clemson fans have grown tired of seeing the Tigers run so many wide-receiver screens, in part because it feels like those screens seldom produce big plays.
Florida State will screen you to death with both its receivers and running backs. And the Seminoles are really good at it in large part because they have large people blocking on the outside:
Earlier this week Wes Goodwin spoke specifically of the importance of his linebackers helping set the edge by winning matchups against tight ends.
This is what he's talking about as Barrett Carter does a really nice job of stringing it out and forcing it back inside:
Once again on the "big bodies are better blockers" theme:
And continuing to hammer it on the very next play. Looks like FSU gets away with a hold here on Tre Williams, but still a really nice piece of running by Benson:
Xavier Thomas played 32 snaps in last year's game. FSU ran at him often:
From our vantage point, XT has been covered up a lot through three games this season. You wonder if Goodwin has something cooked up to try to better fortify the edges, though he told me earlier this week he's been happy with that element thus far with Thomas, Justin Mascoll and TJ Parker.
We've spent a lot of time admiring FSU's bruising approach.
But here's the thing: If you control the line of scrimmage, you disrupt the entire flow of what they want to do.
As you can see in the following four clips:
FSU's opener this season is known largely for the Seminoles pulling away late and bagging a resounding victory over a team from the mighty SEC.
But go back and check out the finer points of matters when the game was still competitive, and you see cases of LSU upending FSU's rhythm with its speed and physicality up front:
Continued in post just below ...
