The Clemson Insider

By William Qualkinbush.

In today’s edition of Qualk Talk we review the Tiger’s 17-13 win over Boston College at Alumni Stadium.

–It was a late-arriving crowd in Chestnut Hill, a fact that didn’t exactly jive with the announcers talking about how tough it was to get a ticket. The stands seemed to fill in eventually, but it was funny at the start of the game.
–BC’s first offensive play reminded me a lot of last year, when Steve Addazio went to playaction rollouts with tight ends featured almost exclusively in the first series. It ended up being a much different gameplan for the Eagles, but that first play gave me pause.
–What a violent collision with Stephone Anthony in the BC backfield on the second play! Unfortunately, someone was offsides, so the play didn’t count, but the hit was legit.
–Speaking of offsides, the two teams were uncharacteristically sloppy early in the game. There were three penalties in the first two series, then only four in the rest of the game combined.
–The penalties made it tough to count, but the Eagles picked up one yard from scrimmage on their first series. It’s only the second time this season Clemson’s opponent has gained yardage on a first series (Louisville got 2 yards last week).
–Wayne Gallman got the start over Adam Choice, which was interesting. I think Gallman has earned the starting spot, so I’m not complaining. I just thought it was interesting.
–Sherman Alston is going to be a boss. We knew Addazio would utilize him similar to the way he utilized Percy Harvin at Florida, and that was certainly the case. Jet sweeps, screens, wheel routes, decoys—the guy did it all, and he was impressive doing so. That young man is only a freshman, meaning he should be a load to handle in the next year or two.
–Even though Tyler Murphy came in as an acclaimed dual-threat quarterback, Brent Venables’ formula remained the same: Blitz right in the guy’s face, and he’ll get rattled. That formula worked for much of the day against Murphy, both as a runner and as a thrower. Clemson’s linebackers have been very good at timing the snap count in order to get good burst through the A gap this season.
–I don’t really get the fan vitriol toward the screen game. Not every screen is a loss of yardage, and running it a bunch isn’t a sign of ineptitude. I actually love the screen game, particularly on first down. I counted seven different times Morris went to Artavis Scott on a screen on first down, and only once did it result in a loss of yardage. In fact, more often than not, it resulted in a gain of several yards.
–Right from the outset, Cole Stoudt proved inept at reading the defense properly in the option run game. I’m not sure he made the correct read once in the entire first quarter, and it cost the Tigers a couple of potential big plays.
–That counter draw play on third-and-long works at least once every game, and it always seems to happen deep in opposing territory. It was executed beautifully on Clemson’s second drive, both by the offensive line blocking downfield and by Choice weaving through traffic.
–The Choice wildcat experiment lasted one play. He lost three yards and tore his ACL. Not a ton of motivation left to run more of that particular set, in my opinion.
–Addazio’s defensive coordinator is Don Brown, who garnered much praise nationally for the work he did on Randy Edsall’s staff at Connecticut. He has been great for BC, and the Eagles were as advertised defensively. For most of the game, there were few busts, and the players performed at a high level on all three levels. On numerous occasions, I saw an inferior defensive athlete make a play on a ball-carrier due to sheer will and desire. That’s impressive.
–I timed the first quarter at 31 minutes of real time. That’s flat out flying, folks.
–Tavaris Barnes started the second quarter off with a bang. He kept contain and got a short sack on first down, then he destroyed a blocker and swallowed Murphy on a third-down sack. That second-string defensive line played with a vengeance on Saturday.
–We’ve said previously that Stoudt thrives at a faster tempo than Deshaun Watson does, and it appears Chad Morris has caught onto that trend. Gallman’s second-quarter touchdown run came with 23 seconds remaining on the play clock. It seemed like there were more instances of lightning-quick play calling from Morris in this game than in previous games this season.
–Kick coverage reared its ugly head right after the first touchdown. BC began possession at Clemson’s 49-yard line, the first time all day the Eagles had been in the Tigers’ territory.
–As the game went on, it became increasingly apparent that Venables schemed Boston College in much the same way he schemes for Georgia Tech, especially on early downs. There were routinely six players on the line of scrimmage at the snap of the football, and rarely was there a two-high safety look in pre-snap. There was a relentless downhill tenor to Clemson’s defense, which allowed for some big-play opportunities for the Eagles in spots but was also responsible for holding the ACC’s top rushing team to almost 200 yards below its season average on the ground.
–Venables likes to stunt his defensive tackles in passing situations. That philosophy earned Deshawn Williams a sack in the second quarter when Murphy ran right into a hole Williams’ stunt filled. When you start to really analyze Venables’ defense, it’s amazing how nuanced it is functionally—and how important those nuances actually are to the plays being made.
–Murphy only broke free a couple of times, but when he did, he proved he was the real deal. The former Gator quarterback showed incredible burst and wiggle in the open field.
–It’s tough to tell who blew a coverage on Alston’s wheel route touchdown catch. My guess is either Ben Boulware or Anthony were supposed to take him, but the confusion created by the quick huddle break had Clemson’s defense as confused as can be when the ball was snapped. It’s not necessarily excusable, but credit goes to Addazio and his offense for creating havoc for the other side.
–Stoudt has a reputation for having less-than-stellar arm strength, but there were times when he was able to dial up some impressive throws. There were two or three occasions where he threw an out or a comeback route from one hash to the opposite sideline—not an easy throw to make for anybody at any level. This was particularly true on the final drive of the first half, when Stoudt was slinging the ball all over the yard.
–I have no idea what Stoudt was doing scrambling on 3rd-&-10 right before the half. Just like last week, he put his team’s opportunity to score in jeopardy by pulling the ball down and trying to run the ball in the middle of the field with time winding down and no timeouts. I guess you have to applaud the effort, but that was a dumb thing to do—again. No clue how he made that mistake after doing the exact same thing last week with negative consequences. Clemson was fortunate Stoudt stumbled for a first down and gave Ammon Lakip a chance to make a kick.
–I know it was only a two-yard gain, but it was nice to see Sam Cooper get his first catch of the season. His freak injury during warmups at Georgia has really set Clemson back in some aspects of the offense this season, so it’s nice for Tiger fans to be able to see him easing his way back into the rotation.
–The great thing about second halves is that they sometimes don’t remotely resemble first halves. It’s almost like first halves only exist to set up second half magic. BC’s reverse pass off of a jet sweep was set up by about a half-dozen play calls in the first half. It was a brilliant call by the Eagles’ brain trust on offense.
–It was obvious Vic Beasley was a big part of BC’s protection plan. They accounted for him specifically on every play, sometimes with two or three guys. Murphy rolled away from him a bunch, but the Eagles did something uncommon on those plays. They still blocked Beasley on the back side of the play, which kept him from getting a full head of steam and running down the quarterback from behind. This is different from what we’ve seen with regards to other teams handling Beasley on the edge.
–Stoudt really started putting the ball in jeopardy after halftime. In the final two quarters, I counted five instances when he gave defenders a prime chance to intercept a pass. On a couple of occasions, his teammates actually played defense and knocked the ball away from a defender looking to make an interception.
–Since I rip the officials consistently when they screw up, it’s only fair I point out excellence in that regard. I never really questioned the officials in this game at all. It might be the first time I’ve ever been able to say that.
–The long pass to Dan Crimmins early in the fourth quarter was a result of poor play design and youth at safety. The route combination was similar to something Georgia Tech might run. A wideout ran a short route, while the inside tight end ran a post across the formation. Crimmins was the second tight end on the left side of the formation. He started out by flaring out two or three steps into the flat, which allowed his comrade to clear the left seam. As expected, T.J. Green followed the post to the middle of the formation in a two-high look—the correct read if no other routes exist up the seam. Crimmins simply turned his route up the field as Green reacted to what he saw. Green probably busted there, but it was the kind of play young players can easily miss because of how it stresses the deep safety.
–Much was made of Clemson’s third-down defense going an entire half unblemished last week, but the Tigers actually made it three full quarters in this one. The first third-down conversion for the Eagles came at the 12:22 mark of the fourth quarter, when Murphy rolled from the left hash all the way down to the right sideline before hitting a diving receiver back toward the middle.
–The touchdown pass was set up brilliantly by Addazio’s offense, as usual. BC tried a similar play earlier when it was backed up deep in its own territory, but the Tigers defended it well. Right before the snap, the formation flipped, with both tight ends moving from the left side of the formation across to the right. This caused Clemson’s personnel to flip in response. Then the rollout came to the right side, further convincing everyone the left side of the play was irrelevant. Murphy chucked it back across the field—just out of the reach of Tony Steward—and found Josh Bordner in the corner of the end zone. Once again, it was simply a case of good offense beating good defense.
–As good as the play call was that led to the touchdown, the extra point was equally as stinky. Seriously, that was a miserable kick.
–Clemson’s offense looked destined to give the ball back with nothing to show for it on the next series, but Stoudt manned up and threw his best downfield ball of the day to Mike Williams into tight coverage for a first down. That led to a neat run by C.J. Davidson for the go-ahead touchdown.
–You won’t see a better play by an interior defensive lineman against the run than the one Grady Jarrett made with just under eight minutes left in the game. He beat a double team, including an attempted cut block, and dove right at the ball carrier’s feet to halt his progress. In essence, he took out three players in the course of the same play. That’s impressive right there.
–I understand the rationale behind slowing the game down and trying to put as much pressure on the opposing offense as possible, but I think Morris took his foot off of the gas too quickly. With six minutes left and a four-point lead, plenty could have still happened to swing the game one way or another. Maybe he would have been more aggressive with Watson at quarterback, but we can’t be sure. I thought first downs and points were more important than the clock on that possession.
–Murphy’s scrambling run seemed to be a product of a slippery field. Rain started to fall in the fourth quarter, and it looked like Murphy just flat out slid off of the arms of Clemson’s tacklers. It was an impressive gain, though, regardless of the circumstances.
–I love the play call by Addazio in short yardage on third down. He went playaction with only one tight end in the route. Everyone else was blocking. For the first time in the game, Clemson stayed home throughout that play, so it didn’t work. But I love him taking that chance.
–Obviously, BC missed two scoring opportunities with dropped passes. Green got sucked up into the box by playaction on the latter example, and Tyler Rouse blew right past him on a wheel route. It was a similar play to the dropped pass in the first half.
–The only officiating beef I had in the game was on the next play after the drop. Murphy stepped slightly to the right (still in the pocket) and just chucked the ball away with no receiver in sight after Boulware had him in his grasp. I thought he was clearly between the tackles and should have been called for intentional grounding, but nobody else seemed preoccupied with that.
–I thought one of Murphy’s best passes in the game was his last one. Fans seemed to think Clemson lucked out on that one, but I disagree. There was good coverage on either side of the receiver, and Murphy threw the football to the only place he knew only his receiver could catch it. That spot took the receiver off of his route, which is why he had to dive for the ball. Clemson didn’t get lucky on that final play. In fact, I believe quality coverage forced the quarterback and wide receiver to freelance a throw into a small window. Those plays typically favor the defense.

God Bless!