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 38-17 victory over Virginia Tech.
Quarterbacks
Grade: C
There was a time when completing 12 of 21 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown was a good day for a Clemson quarterback. But none of those quarterbacks were of the talent of Tajh Boyd and the expectations were not as high. Boyd’s mechanics appeared a little off, which is why he threw high on so many passes. His lone interception was a result of such things because the decision to throw to DeAndre Hopkins was the right read. But besides throwing high, he also missed a couple of plays where he had wide receivers running open. In the first half, Boyd also seemed confused in his run-game decision and a few times kept the ball when he should have given it to Andre Ellington. Boyd did improve in the second half with his run-game decisions and made some very nice runs late in the game. However, there was one play in the fourth quarter where he stepped out of bounds a yard shy of the sticks when he could have gotten that yard. On the next play, Ellington was stuffed for a loss and Clemson punted the ball. In other words, Boyd just didn’t seem to be Tajh Boyd.
Running backs
Grade: B
Ellington again had a nice game, rushing for 96 yards on 19 carries, including a nifty 12-yard touchdown run up the middle in the third quarter that put the Tigers on top 24-10 at the time. Ellington’s longest rush was for 26 yards. D.J. Howard had a nice 11-yard run as well in the fourth quarter when the Tigers where trying to kill clock.
Wide receivers/ Tight ends
Grade: C
Not sure really how to grade this position because only two wide receivers actually caught the ball and only one other was targeted the whole afternoon. It seemed at times, Clemson receivers had trouble getting open down field. Chad Morris found creative ways to get the ball in the hands of Sammy Watkins, who had a season-high eight catches for 84 yards, including one pass of 27 yards that set up Ellington’s touchdown. Boyd, however, could not find really anyone else open. DeAndre Hopkins did catch a 37-yard touchdown with 50 seconds left in the third quarter, but the ACC’s top pass catcher finished the day with three catches for 68 yards.
Offensive line
Grade: F
Five sacks. Need I say more? The offensive line had its worse game by far. Clemson had allowed just 10 sacks all season prior to Saturday. Besides the five sacks, the Hokies got three hurries and had Boyd running out of the pocket it seemed like all afternoon. To top things off—despite having all their starters back for the first time since Week 1—Clemson averaged only 3.0 yards per carry.
Defensive line
Grade: B+
The defensive line was responsible for seven tackles for loss
Saturday, clearly the unit’s best game of the season. The Tigers two sacks came from the defensive line as well with Josh Watson and Malliciah Goodman recording their first sacks of the year. Goodman also got constant pressure on Virginia Tech quarterback Logan Thomas for most of the second half, while fellow defensive end Corey Crawford also made several plays. The biggest surprise of the day was the play of freshman tackle D.J. Reader, who had seven tackles and blew up several more plays before they got started.
Linebackers
Grade: B+
Spencer Shuey got the start at middle linebacker over Stephone Anthony and he did not disappoint. The junior took advantage of his first start this season by recording nine tackles, including 2.5 for loss. As the middle linebacker, he also made all the calls up front for the defensive line and put guys in the right position more times than not. Tig Willard (10 tackles) and Quandon Christian (6 tackles) also had good games. Christian played a big role in setting the edge on the Hokies stretch run plays, forcing running backs back inside where Shuey and Willard were waiting to make tackles.
Secondary
Grade: B+
The Clemson secondary by far had its best game of the season. The Tigers picked off three passes, two by Jonathan Meeks, who returned one 74 yards for a touchdown that allowed Clemson to take a 17-10 lead into the break. The secondary still had its issues on a couple of busted assignments, including the 29-yard touchdown on the Hokies’ opening drive, but for the most part they stayed disciplined. Twice Clemson broke up the same trick play. Early in the game, when Logan Thomas threw what looked like a lateral to Marcus Davis, cornerback Darius Robinson shot through and deflected the ball out of bounds. Then in the fourth quarter with Virginia Tech trying to crawl back in the game, the Hokies tried the same play, except this time Davis’ pass was intercepted by Xavier Brewer, who stayed back in his two-deep coverage and followed through with his assignment.
Special Teams
Grade: A
Watkins had a 29-yard return on a kickoff and Adam Humphries was very affective with his two punt returns to set up field position. The kick coverage and punt coverage teams were excellent as well, limiting Virginia Tech to no return longer than 20 yards. Though his seven punts only averaged 33.4 yards, the Hokies had minus-2 yards combined while trying to return three of those punts. Chandler Catanzaro made his 20th straight field goal and is now 12-for-12 on the season.
Coaching
Grade: B
Chad Morris struggled to get yardage against Tech’s Bud Foster. The Tigers 295 total yards is the lowest total by the Clemson offense under Morris. But, Morris did make some adjustments and used Ellington effectively enough in the running game with counters and traps to slow down the Hokies’ rush. It almost seemed as if Clemson was running the veer at times. Regardless, the adjustments allowed the Tigers to find Watkins and Hopkins downfield late in the third quarter to give Clemson a manageable lead. On defense, Brent Venables did a great job calling the defense as he brought several fire blitzes off the edge to force Thomas into bad throws, while also disguising his coverages. He also seemed to adjust to whatever Tech adjusted to and the running game for the Hokies was not a factor at all.