By Will Vandervort.

By Will Vandervort

Each week we take a look back at what the Clemson Tigers did right and what they did wrong on the gridiron as we grade the Tigers’ performance at every position in Saturday’s 49-37 loss to Florida State.

Quarterbacks

Grade:  B

Tajh Boyd played well against the Seminoles and I still think he was the best quarterback on the field last night. The redshirt junior completed 20 of 36 passes for 237 yards and three touchdowns. His only mistake came in the fourth quarter when he was trying to make something happen after the Tigers fell behind two scores. Boyd was 13 of 18 in the first half for 194 yards and two scores, but was 7 of 18 for 43 yards, a touchdown and an interception in the second half.

Running backs

Grade: B

Andre Ellington had 142 all-purpose yards, including 87 receiving. Clemson averaged a modest 3.6 yards per carry. Ellington also had 55 yards rushing. He had a big play again, but this time it came out of the backfield as he caught a 52-yard touchdown pass from Sammy Watkins on a trick play. Watkins also averaged 7.4 yards per carry as he was used five times as a running back.

Wide receivers/ Tight ends

Grade: B

Clemson had some big plays from the receiving corps, including a 60-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins and a 40-yard pass to tight end Brandon Ford. In all, Clemson receivers hauled in three touchdown passes and threw another one when Watkins threw the touchdown pass to Ellington. The surprise, however, was the fact Watkins caught six passes for 24 yards and after his first-quarter touchdown, Hopkins only caught four more passes for 28 yards.

Offensive line

Grade: B

Florida State’s defense was allowing just 33 yards per game on the ground, and the Tigers totaled 136 against the Seminoles vaunted defense. FSU also had just two sacks as the Tigers did an excellent job keeping defensive end Bjoern Werner off Boyd. Werner, who ranked second in the nation in sacks, did not record a sack and was relatively quiet all night. The offensive line was also charged with only one penalty as they relatively negated FSU’s talented defensive front.

Defensive line

Grade: F

Florida State’s offensive line owned the Tigers’ front. The Seminoles averaged 7.2 yards per carry. There was no pressure but on the quarterback all night as Clemson’s lone sack came off a corner blitz. Clemson will have to reevaluate what they have up front and look at changing its personnel.

Linebackers

Grade: D

Tig Willard played hard and made a few plays, while Stephone Anthony had nine tackles and now has 36 on the season. But, Quandon Christian was exploited as FSU ran at him all night and as he continuously could not get off blocks to make plays.

Secondary

Grade: F

The one bright spot for the secondary was Bashaud Breeland’s sack of EJ Manuel in the second quarter. Other than that, there isn’t much more you can say. The secondary played awful. Darius Robinson was picked on all night and gave up a long touchdown and a pass interference. Again, Xavier Brewer ran himself out of plays and the tackling was very suspect. Travis Blanks and Breeland both had eight tackles for the only real highlights.

Special Teams

Grade: C

Chandler Catanzaro connected on a 50-yard field goal that allowed him to set a new-school record for consecutive field goals made with 15. Spencer Benton averaged 41 yards on seven punts and also had three special teams tackles. But, there were several breakdowns on returns, especially kickoff returns where the Seminoles averaged 37 yards on five returns. The ‘Noles had a kickoff return of 90 yards and a punt return of 30 yards.

Coaching

Grade: C

Offensive coordinator Chad Morris called a great game and obviously had his offense ready to play. Clemson was as productive against the FSU defense as it was last year. Clemson has been the only team to go over 400 yards of total offense against the Seminoles the last two years. The play call on the Watkins to Ellington play was a thing of beauty. As good as Morris was on play calling, the defense did not look prepared against an FSU offense that is clicking right now. Defensive coordinator Brent Venables himself said after the game that this performance was all on him.