forums

3 ways I expect Clemson to attack us

jerzeycane said:
Go back and watch the first half against Cincinatti. Slot guy had a free 6 yards basically every snap.

Question for Lu, why do we religiously line up in base against spread teams? Would it not make sense to start in a sub package so that you don't get stuck with your base on the field during the hurry up?
Click to expand...

Al Golden is the last coach that still thinks in terms of running downs and passing downs.
 
Advertisement
Definitely seam routes. Clemson likes to go empty set and send one vertical after another out of that formation. They don't care if they don't connect early. They go back to it often. It typically includes one guy running a delayed and shorter but dangerous seam route.

Watson will float it occasionally on those deep seams. He did that in the first quarter against Boston College and got picked to set up a touchdown. I don't think our safeties can get there.

This looks like a nightmare game for Tracy Howard. That's what I've been thinking about all season in regard to this matchup. He's going to need to get lucky.

I haven't seen too many bunched formations from them. It's true we looked terrible against Florida Atlantic so maybe it will be incoporated in greater percentage.

They run plenty of stuff that reminds me of Mississippi State. Not too much base power from center. Lots of designed runs by Watson although since he's nicked a bit so it has declined somewhat. Gallman is the primary feature back. Tall and somewhat like a Gus Edwards type but with more explosiveness. I think Sweeney challenged him recently.

Yeah, the bootleg plays and everything that flows out of them is the wildcard. I expect to be gashed on those plays more than once, whether Watson keeps it or looks downfield.

On defense they are upfield and attack. Every time I watch them the linemen blend. Equally effective. Larger frames than Beasley had last year. One safety is a touted player but I don't know much about him.
 
RaiseCane said:
LuCane said:
jerzeycane said:
Go back and watch the first half against Cincinatti. Slot guy had a free 6 yards basically every snap.

Question for Lu, why do we religiously line up in base against spread teams? Would it not make sense to start in a sub package so that you don't get stuck with your base on the field during the hurry up?
Click to expand...

Question for Coach D'onofrio; not me. I don't know why he chooses to say in base as often he does. If i had to guess, and it's a guess, it may have to do with the traditional thinking of "we must stop the run first" and he uses the set he thinks is best to do that.

I don't get it, though, because that concept is not foreign to the NFL - where they have actual LBs who can cover - and you still see extra DBs more often than not.
Click to expand...

But this is one (of the many things) that I don't get about our defensive scheme, strategy and personnel - what extra benefit are we getting against the run do we get by keeping our base in against 3 and 4 wides when our OLBs/rush ends are lining up over the slot WR or between the slot WR and the OT/TE?

When we have a guy like McCord out in the slot, he ends up unable to do much against quick slot WRs, is in no man's land as a pass rusher, and isn't able to do much against the run being out of the box. I focused on McCord and Harris a bunch of times last week when they tried to cover the slot WRs, and they were, unsurprising, completely overwhelmed.

Instead of having extra guys there to stop the run, we often end up with 5 guys in the box against spread teams, as our 2 OLBs are lined up on slot WRs. Or, we end up shading our OLBs toward the slot, and drop a safety down to cover, but not close enough to alter the WR's route, so the slot WRs often have 5+ yards of cushion, and we're asking our safeties to then cover that WR, who has a free release, in space.

I simply can't understand why we wouldn't go nickel, with Grace and another LB (now Owens) as our LBs, so that we're better able to defend against the run, while also giving us the speed we need to defend the pass. I'm not going to pretend to be an Xs and Os expert, but the results of our defense speak for themselves.
Click to expand...


Solid work
 
RaiseCane said:
LuCane said:
jerzeycane said:
Go back and watch the first half against Cincinatti. Slot guy had a free 6 yards basically every snap.

Question for Lu, why do we religiously line up in base against spread teams? Would it not make sense to start in a sub package so that you don't get stuck with your base on the field during the hurry up?
Click to expand...

Question for Coach D'onofrio; not me. I don't know why he chooses to say in base as often he does. If i had to guess, and it's a guess, it may have to do with the traditional thinking of "we must stop the run first" and he uses the set he thinks is best to do that.

I don't get it, though, because that concept is not foreign to the NFL - where they have actual LBs who can cover - and you still see extra DBs more often than not.
Click to expand...

But this is one (of the many things) that I don't get about our defensive scheme, strategy and personnel - what extra benefit are we getting against the run do we get by keeping our base in against 3 and 4 wides when our OLBs/rush ends are lining up over the slot WR or between the slot WR and the OT/TE?

When we have a guy like McCord out in the slot, he ends up unable to do much against quick slot WRs, is in no man's land as a pass rusher, and isn't able to do much against the run being out of the box. I focused on McCord and Harris a bunch of times last week when they tried to cover the slot WRs, and they were, unsurprising, completely overwhelmed.

Instead of having extra guys there to stop the run, we often end up with 5 guys in the box against spread teams, as our 2 OLBs are lined up on slot WRs. Or, we end up shading our OLBs toward the slot, and drop a safety down to cover, but not close enough to alter the WR's route, so the slot WRs often have 5+ yards of cushion, and we're asking our safeties to then cover that WR, who has a free release, in space.

I simply can't understand why we wouldn't go nickel, with Grace and another LB (now Owens) as our LBs, so that we're better able to defend against the run, while also giving us the speed we need to defend the pass. I'm not going to pretend to be an Xs and Os expert, but the results of our defense speak for themselves.
Click to expand...

Good post.

This is the type of thing that makes me crazy, especially because our results over 5 years seem to make obvious the ineffectiveness of this approach/philosophy. I feel like I know football pretty well, and while I don't profess to be some Xs and Os guru, I can't help but think I'm right when I see this stuff and find it to be poorly thought out and implemented.

I'm a humble person, and I'd accept it (in theory) if our coaches could sit me down and enlightened me to the finer points and make me realize that their approach is genius. But I know that's highly unlikely because (1) I have common football sense, and (2) pretty much every game my thoughts are reinforced.

Then I start to wonder if I'm crazy because how can the coaches not see this? How do they not adjust??

But then I come here and see that I'm not alone and I'm not crazy. But still, how is it that the guys who make all the money, spend much of their adult lives thinking about this stuff, and who I presume want to keep their jobs (or at least get better ones) don't get it?

I guess the inevitable result is what we see after 5 years.
 
Last edited:
I expect them to play zone alot on defense. It's our offensive kryptonite. We kill man. Someone posted Dabo's press conference and he alluded as much.
 
Awsi Dooger said:
Definitely seam routes. Clemson likes to go empty set and send one vertical after another out of that formation. They don't care if they don't connect early. They go back to it often. It typically includes one guy running a delayed and shorter but dangerous seam route.

Watson will float it occasionally on those deep seams. He did that in the first quarter against Boston College and got picked to set up a touchdown. I don't think our safeties can get there.

This looks like a nightmare game for Tracy Howard. That's what I've been thinking about all season in regard to this matchup. He's going to need to get lucky.

I haven't seen too many bunched formations from them. It's true we looked terrible against Florida Atlantic so maybe it will be incoporated in greater percentage.

They run plenty of stuff that reminds me of Mississippi State. Not too much base power from center. Lots of designed runs by Watson although since he's nicked a bit so it has declined somewhat. Gallman is the primary feature back. Tall and somewhat like a Gus Edwards type but with more explosiveness. I think Sweeney challenged him recently.

Yeah, the bootleg plays and everything that flows out of them is the wildcard. I expect to be gashed on those plays more than once, whether Watson keeps it or looks downfield.

On defense they are upfield and attack. Every time I watch them the linemen blend. Equally effective. Larger frames than Beasley had last year. One safety is a touted player but I don't know much about him.
Click to expand...

Deon can. Rayshawn can. If he floats em they won't hit grass.
 
Advertisement
It will all be over soon...39 days (Nov 30) from now I expect Golden to be officially fired. A day that will be rejoiced by thousands of Canes fans!!
 
im surprise Lu aint mention it....

But they will throw that bubble screen to #3 ALL GAME....that will get an easy 5-10 yds off rip...

Lu do you like how we defend that...we basically split or try to split the difference with our OLB..Keep our safeties back...it puts ALOT of peressure on OLB as he has to try and make that play after initially rushing pass....ToolBox isnt that fast to get there so its already a 8 yd gain..add to it...not just Tracy..but Artie Burns is terrible in getting off blocks...

-Once an offense has a flow and a gimme play against us./..it all goes down hill from their with NO frio.....

-Seam routes aint scaring me..though they will be there...as they were there with VT..but we actually have a guy or two back there if you overe throw they will pick it...

The **** bubble screen and option with Gallman SCARES me....I have no clue how they cant defends the option yet...Against FSU it killed u...then the next week against VT it was the same sh*t...VT had that their all day...
 
We got slaughtered using a spy on Golson and I dont expect us to be stupid enough to do that again. I expect we will mostly play zone because of the running QB and the speed of their wide receivers. i havent seen a Donofrio zone do anything but create wide open opportunities for the defense.
They gamble alot on defense and this is where we can beat them.. We have a QB who sees the field and their defense was vulnerable in the second half against ND. I think we can score on them and I expect Njoku to have a big game.
 
They will attack us racially and demographically.


tom-cruise-laughing-hysterically_48.gif
 
Back
Top