Gaining some yards on 1st down would be a good start.
I don't think it matters what formation we can conceivably run out of in this case - we don't have the skill up front to really push anyone around, much less Clemson. Also, while I may not have the tape to prove it, I'm getting the feeling watching Homer that he is struggling with his vision lately. Our offensive line is bad at run blocking, yes, but I think part of this is that Homer is often just picking the wrong damned places to run. Not seeing many attempts to cut back or bounce outside.
I think we need to go for broke, put it all on Rosier's shoulders and tell him to go out and hit the deep balls he so badly missed last Friday. If we can't hit on some big plays downfield and stretch Clemson out, we will be out of the game by the 4th quarter.
Run the football. Period.
Syracuse - 50 rushes for 132 yards. Won TOP by 9m. Won the game.
Miami doesn't have the OL to run the ball 40 times a game! dUh.
Their QB carried it like 20 of those times... they baciscally ran out of the spread... this is the same thing other teams have done to our defense.
Hurry up and run the ball. That is the great cleanser. And don't panic if they stuff the uptempo runs early.
The single category that has hinted at Canes as fraudulent all year has been rushing attempt numbers. It always drives me nuts when we're sitting there late in the first half with 10 or 12 rushes, sometimes fewer.
As someone already posted in this thread, we are 113th in the nation in rushing attempts per game. Heading into last week we were 106th. Yet you had someone connected to this site try to pretend we would have won 80% of the time last week via the way that game unfolded. Truly ridiculous. Subjective homer crap. In college football the team with highest number of rushes wins 74% of the time. That's not as lopsided as the pro number but you don't want to be on the wrong end time after time.
Pittsburgh had 45 rushes to Miami's 23. Yep, that's 80% likelihood to the 23.