By Will Vandervort.
Getting pressure on FSU’s Winston will be key if the Tigers hope to pull off the upset
If 23rd-ranked Clemson is going to knock off top-ranked Florida State and end the nation’s longest winning streak, it has to get pressure on quarterback Jameis Winston.
It’s that simple, or so it seems.
“That’s easier said than done,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said Wednesday during his weekly teleconference with the ACC media. “They have a very veteran offensive line that understands their protections, and Jimbo (Fisher) does a nice job with the play action to try to protect, as well, from a pressure standpoint,” Swinney said. “We’ve got to win the line of scrimmage, first of all.”
Last season, the ‘Noles signal caller threw for 444 yards, while completing 22 of 34 passes as FSU routed the Tigers in a battle of top five teams.
“Well, I don’t think you can just let him sit back there and have a ham sandwich,” Swinney said. “That’s not going to be good – they have too good of skill outside and you can’t cover those guys forever.”
Though Clemson got to Winston three times last year, most of that came late when the outcome was all but decided. By that time he had already thrown three scoring passes to Kelvin Benjamin and Rashad Greene.
“You’ve got to be able to disrupt the timing of the passing game and create pressure if you’re going to have success against a great quarterback,” Swinney said. “That’s any week, any level of football.”
Clemson (1-1) did not do that against Georgia. Of course they never got the opportunity to either.
Though the Tigers supposedly have one of the best defensive lines in the country, they were dominated by sixth-ranked Georgia two weeks ago in Athens, Ga. The Bulldogs rushed for 328 yards with 211 of it coming in the fourth quarter.
“No matter what happens, we have to play like we are capable of playing,” Clemson linebacker Tony Steward said. “No matter what the scoreboard says, we have to finish. We can’t play three quarters of football than expect to win in the fourth quarter without playing another strong quarter.
“We have to play as hard and as good as we can as long as the clock has time on it.”
Florida State (2-0) returned four of its five starting offensive line from last year with only center Austin Barron being the new guy, though he is a senior. The Tigers have 12 lettermen back on the defensive line, including four seniors in defensive end Vic Beasley, defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, defensive tackle DeShawn Williams and defensive end Corey Crawford.
Clemson welcomed Crawford back in last week’s win over S.C. State after he sat out the Georgia game due to a suspension handed out by Swinney before spring practice began. Crawford had two tackles and one tackle for loss in the 19 snaps he played last week.
The Tigers had four sacks overall against S.C. State.
“If you win the line of scrimmage, then good things happen,” Swinney said. “We’ve got to do a great job of coverage on the outside. We didn’t do a good job last year. We gave up two really big plays in the passing game, where their guy was just better than our guy to be honest with you.
“That’s where we have to hopefully be able to win those matchups. The ball is going to come out. (Winston) is not going to hold the ball. He’s going to get rid of it, and you know, we’ve got to win some matchups.”
Greene, who leads the ACC in receiving yards after two games this year, had eight catches for 146 yards in last year’s contest, including a 72-yard touchdown reception in which he caught the ball going over the middle and turned it up the far sideline for the score.
It was a play where Winston had plenty of time to find his star wide receiver.
“We’ve got to have our fair share of (pressure) if we’re going to have a chance to win it, especially at their place,” Swinney said. “Certainly getting after the quarterback is a priority every single week.”