By William Qualkinbush.

In this edition of Qualk Talk we take a look back at Clemson’s 16-6 win over Syracuse in Death Valley.

-I’m getting way too familiar with Anish Shroff and Kelly Stauffer. It’s getting to the point that I expect to hear them calling the game on TV, which I don’t altogether mind but also don’t prefer.
–With that being said, the stadium shots leading into kickoff were pretty cool. The environment was pretty good in Memorial Stadium on Saturday, and that little montage painted a quality picture.
–Stephone Anthony made sure to introduce himself to A.J. Long early. He was the spy on the first play from scrimmage, following Long as he rolled left and hesitated. That was the cue for Anthony to shoot out of a cannon and get the sack. He also popped Long on his errant third-down pass later in that drive.
–All of us have spent a ton of time talking about how the screen pass plays directly into the strength of Cole Stoudt. In watching a little bit of the game, however, I realized another area it benefits: the offensive line. Syracuse blitzed the weaknesses in the line (left tackle and center) pretty relentlessly early in the game, and it was obvious on a couple of occasions that the screen was a check that took the heat off of those linemen rather than forcing them to pass protect for downfield route combinations.
–Does anybody run harder than Prince-Tyson Gulley? Seriously, that kid never went down. He stayed up until multiple defenders pulled him to the ground all night long.
–Scott Shafer’s defensive scheme was much better this year. His “what you see is what you get” attitude was an absolute dumpster fire in 2013, but he was much more deceptive and intelligent in his playcalling this time around. The Orange utilized a two-high set for much of the game. This forced Stoudt to dwell on underneath options pretty much by default. Syracuse was also showing blitzers that dropped into coverage. When there’s still a blitz coming, it becomes difficult for an offensive line and a quarterback to know who needs to be blocked and who doesn’t.
–Conventional wisdom says Mike Williams will come down with one-on-one jump balls. Stoudt threw one with great field position on first down for his first interception. There was confusion in the protection, but Stoudt could have slide-stepped to buy more time. Instead, he stepped up into the rush, got hit, and underthrew Williams. The cornerback made a great play on the ball and put himself in a position to pick off the pass.
–Clemson’s pass rush is always very good, but the immediate coverage forced a ton of sacks on Saturday. The freshman Long had an issue with holding the ball entirely too long, but he didn’t have much of a choice on a bunch of snaps.
–Clemson didn’t have an issue with missed tackles—in fact, that defense was flat out nasty in that regard—but there were two missed tackles that led to a conversion on 4th-and-1 on Syracuse’s field goal drive in the first quarter.
–The screen became too predictable in the first quarter. Syracuse completely blew it up on the first offensive play of the period. Wisely, Chad Morris started to switch it up and that debacle never repeated itself.
–I’ve never seen Stoudt throw a better back-shoulder throw than a third down conversion to Williams. It was a beautiful ball, the kind of play that got the offense into hyper speed before Syracuse used a timeout.
–Syracuse had a little early success in a two-back set out of the shotgun. They would motion one back out into the flat, playaction fake to the strong side, then go back to a quick slant on the weak side of the formation. I noted that particular play on multiple occasions in the first half.
–I have no idea how Sean Hickey got hurt, but Syracuse rolled Long out hard to the right on the play after he went out. The next play was a designed quarterback keeper to the right side. The play after that was an incomplete pass forced by Vic Beasley’s pressure from—you guessed it—the left side. I think it’s safe to say the Orange value Hickey a great deal.
–Midway through the second quarter, Clemson’s offense hit that warp speed. The ball was being snapped between 12 and 18 seconds after the end of the last play all the way down the field. In fact, the Tigers were about to snap the ball at 31 seconds before Syracuse used a timeout on one first down play.
–That same drive stalled after three players blitzed the same gap in short yardage. The blitz was telegraphed prior to the snap, and Stoudt should’ve been able to diagnose it and adjust. Maybe Norton could’ve done the same thing. Predictably, one of the blitzers burst into the backfield and dropped C.J. Davidson for a loss. Dabo Swinney was visibly upset and yelling at the offensive line after Ammon Lakip’s field goal.
–Talk about a disastrous drive for A.J. Long: He fumbled two snaps and threw a pick in a span of three plays late in the second quarter. Plus, Robert Smith made a sensational play on the ball to haul it in with full extension.
–Ron Thompson’s injury with 2:39 to play before halftime looked suspicious. He was running fine during the down when he got into the backfield. He wasn’t limping or anything. Like I said, that’s pretty suspicious to me.
–The option call down near the goal line was one of the best I’ve seen in four seasons of Chad Morris at Clemson. If Davidson catches the pitch, he basically walks into the end zone. But he bobbled it three times, so the play was for naught. There was only one relevant defender at the snap of the ball, and he was completely befuddled by the option call. It was a shame we didn’t see more of Davidson after he ran so hard and smart in the first half, but we know fumbling by running backs is rarely allowed.
–Very simply, Stoudt has to handle the ball like a grown man in two-minute situations. You just can’t let a defender take the ball right out of your hands. That’s just sloppy. He ran into the middle of the field with the ball cradled in his right hand as he addressed a tackler on his right side. Basically, he was asking for the ball to be taken away from him.
–I love the razzle dazzle from Syracuse off of the turnover. It didn’t work, but the wide receiver reverse pass was a nice touch—especially given the fake reverse it broke out during the previous possession.
–Tavaris Barnes had a strip sack, then he took a selfie with Grady Jarrett. I have no words.
–Much respect to the freshman Cole Murphy for nailing a 50-yarder right before halftime. That’s not an easy kick to make on air, much less against Clemson in Death Valley.
–Remember that playaction slant play Syracuse ran a handful of times in the first half? Jayron Kearse was ready for it and jumped the route in the third quarter on the Orange’s first play from scrimmage.
–It was a very close play, but the fumble that gave Clemson great field position was a good overturn on replay. Too bad Ryan Norton’s bad snap forced the Tigers to go scoreless on that drive. Speaking of which, those bad snaps are annoying, but Morris and Dabo Swinney really don’t have much of a choice right now but to play him.
–Garry Peters almost had an interception for a touchdown right after that disappointing drive. Long saw Peters coming on a corner blitz and did what quarterbacks are supposed to do—throw right to the blitz, or more specifically, to where the blitzer came from. Peters jumped and got a major piece of the ball in flight, but he couldn’t quite bring it in.
–I’m still not sure what Stoudt was looking at with his second pick. I know his arm was hit, but there was virtually no way he would have been able to hit Williams on a post route. He would have thrown into triple coverage, but he actually threw the ball to another defender who was in the vicinity. In essence, there were four defenders with a chance to play that ball. You simply cannot throw it.
–Stoudt was bailed out by Anthony, who made an absolutely sensational one-handed catch on a rollout right by Long. He leapt into the air and snagged it toward the Syracuse sideline to set up a rare scoring drive for the Tigers. On that same play, Long took a shot from Tony Steward as he stepped up to throw.
–Artavis Scott committed pretty egregious pass interference to keep Stoudt from throwing another interception on the far sideline, but it wasn’t called. Stoudt made some questionable choices in the game about where to throw the football, and his receivers broke up would-be interceptions more than once.
–As the game wore on, it became increasingly apparent Syracuse was going to win the battles against the offensive line when there was an extreme strong side of the formation. Time and time again, the Tigers tried to run where there were blockers, but the Orange always flooded more defenders to that side.
–Still shots after the game seemed to suggest Adam Humphries scored a touchdown on 2nd-&-goal midway through the third quarter, and it appeared he stayed inside the white line on video. However, there was no way to tell for sure with the angles available. Plus, as the broadcast crew pointed out, the best angle came from the official on the sideline, who made the out-of bounds call on the field. Clemson ended up with a field goal, but it would have been nice for the Tigers to punch the ball in for a touchdown right there.
–Ammon Lakip was money in this game. None of his kicks were automatic, even the short one that was basically an offset extra point. Those are the kinds of kicks that, when missed, can decide football games. Lakip made sure that didn’t happen against Syracuse.
–Wayne Gallman ran really hard in the second half, and both of his quarters looked different. There were more chunk plays in the third, then he transitioned to more of a ball control approach to running the ball in the fourth. That versatility showed up more the second time around than it did live.
–Stoudt threw two exceptionally confident passes in the game: the post to Williams that wrapped up the third quarter and the wheel route to Stanton Seckinger that started the fourth. That wheel route was particularly impressive because there was pressure coming on both sides of Stoudt and he stepped up and chucked the ball with authority into a tight window. It makes you wonder why he can’t do that all of the time.
–Because of the way he’s being utilized, Artavis Scott has a tendency to fly under the radar. However, it seems like every week he plays with Stoudt, he shows a little bit better ability to freelance and make plays.
–Clemson’s final drive was one of those drives we’ve come to expect from the Tigers even when we don’t truly expect it based on the way they’ve played. It seems like those clock-killing drives at the end of the game feature strong offensive line play and a pounding rushing attack, and this one was no different. Clemson spent the final eight-plus minutes of the game on offense.

God Bless!

WQ