FL Cane
All ACC
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2018
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- 5,880
I, like many of you, are surprised that we pulled out the win yesterday. With a true freshman QB making his first start, and some key guys banged up, I thought that we'd be competitive but ultimately give the game away in the second half. I'm thrilled to say we didn't do that. Here's some takeaways:
- Emory took a half to get into the rhythm, and speed, of P5 football. His first-half performance was shaky, and the playcalling was extremely conservative. Consistent screens, lots of inside zone runs, plain power football. It's clear this staff didn't want anything over the middle or the top until he settled in. He had a bad pick, but all in all, he had a very solid second half. One thing I like about Emory is that he ACTUALLY goes through his progressions. His head is on a swivel, which also leads to him having good pocket presence. There were a number of times he stepped up into the pocket to avoid a sack. He also showed some fire which we don't see from a more quiet TVD. He'll be a good one.
- It's been said by many on this board already, but we absolutely dominated Clemson on both lines. The past few times we've played Clemson they've physically dominated and beaten the dogs**t out of us. Not yesterday. They knew we were gonna run and they couldn't do a thing about it. We would bring our regular for front on the DL and they couldn't stop it. All in all, this is a great sign for our program moving forward. Winning on the lines = elite production.
- Our running game was stout. We're blessed to have major depth at RB (especially in light of injuries). Don and Ajay Allen were huge. Imagine this room with our 4 RBs healthy, plus CJ and Citizen.
- Colbie Young showed he's a very good WR, but to be elite, he's gotta come up with that go route that he dropped. As for our other WR's, they did their jobs. Brashard Smith was electric, but we were lucky to recover his fumble.
- I'm still confused on our complete inability to effectively use a TE in our offense. Arroyo looks like he'll be back to full health soon, but McCormick just doesn't do anything in the passing game. We're not gonna be able to get elite TE recruits if all they see is an offense where they're just an extra blocker.
- On our Defense, they played ELITE football. We destroyed Clemson's run game. Someone on here said it - don't remember the handle - but I believe they've only been held under 40 yards once under Dabo, and that was against UGA back in 2021. We have an elite run defense, which especially help us in our matchup vs. fsu.
- Reuben Bain is a future 1st round pick. He was dominant, and he's only going to go up from here.
- Corey Flagg made the play of his career. Props to him for all the hard work and effort he's put in. That's a cane right there, and he had a solid game overall. LB corp has made a huge upgrade from last year.
- James Williams made 2 touchdown saving tackles that were critical to our win. Props to him and on the fumble recovery. Heads up awareness from him. Kam also had a great game and key int.
- That goal-line stand was something we haven't been able to do in a decade or more. Our recent trend has been to crumble under pressure or not even be in a position to close out a game like that. Culture is a big reason for that.
- Borregales is one of the best kickers in the game. He's automatic, and is a key reason why we pulled the win yesterday.
- On the gameplan, it was the right one. Limit mistakes and ground and pound Clemson with the lines we had. Would've hoped for a little more creativity on offense, but I guess they wanted to keep it simple for Emory.
- On that last drive, it was a wasted opportunity overall. I was ****ed that we seemed to be content with going into OT. However, I kind of understand the reasoning behind the decision. True Freshman QB under pressure and needing to go 60 yards to get into FG range. Not to mention they were gonna sell out on the run. Had we turned the ball over there, Clemson would've needed 1-2 decent plays to get into FG range and win. It was a coin flip and we were lucky to win. In the future though, we gotta go for the win.
- If TVD played yesterday I think we would've had an A&M result and would have won by double digits.
- Dabo is in his decline phase at Clemson. The game's passed him, and he doesn't have a generational QB to cover up substandard coaching. Beating Clemson was vital to us, since we finally got the Monkey off our back.
- We've got two games coming up that we ABSOLUTELY have to win. There's no reason why we shouldn't beat UVA or NC State.
- Emory should start these next two games. We need TVD healthy to have any chance of ruining FSU's season in Tallahassee. Emory leading this offense is good enough to beat UVA or NC State.
- I said before the season that this was an 8-4/9-3 team. If we win the games we're supposed to coming up (UVA, NCST, and BC), we get to 8-4. Beat Louisville (very realistic goal) and we're 9-3. A 9-3 record with a chance at 10-wins is a good bowl game is a massive improvement from a 5-7 season. We're going in the right direction
