CLEMSON — It surely wasn’t pretty, but Clemson got its first win of the season with a 22-7 victory over Georgia Southern on Saturday night in Memorial Stadium.
For the second straight week, the game suffered from a lengthy delay due to lightning in the area.
The Tigers made five trips inside the red zone, but could only muster 22 points. While it was a better offensive showing than the display seen in Baton Rouge, there is still a long way to go.
After generating 257yards of offense across the first two quarters, Clemson managed just 90 in the second half.
The team also committed 10 penalties for 100 yards.
Tait Has to Be the Guy, Right?
Make no mistake, Tait Reynolds was not perfect. Far from it, in fact, and there were certainly some freshman moments. However, the offense just looked better with him at the helm. Chris Vizzina started and got the first three possessions, with two of his three incompletions being way off the mark. He had Bryant Wesco open for a deep ball early on that he just totally missed the mark on. Drop it where it is supposed to be, and that is likely six points.
For the most part, Reynolds looked in control. The moment was not too big for him. He also gets the ball out quicker, and he is more accurate. Not to mention, he is the better runner, and behind this offensive line, an ability to run is something the quarterback is going to need.
The freshman finished 16-of-26 for 178 yards, while adding 38 yards on the ground. He did put the ball on the ground once in the first half.
This OL Is Bad
So much for Chad Morris wanting to make the running game a focal point of this offense, because this offensive line just isn’t good enough. Bad technique, bad footwork, and oh boy, the mental mistakes. This group just committed too many penalties against Georgia Southern. Instead of taking over the line of scrimmage the way a good Power-4 program would do against a Sun Belt team, this offensive line just couldn’t get out of its own way.
The Tigers did rush for more than 150 yards, but this is one of those games where you’d expect Clemson to go well over 200 on the ground.
Gideon Davidson had just 58 yards on 12 carries. The speedster Chris Johnson actually had some success running between the tackles, finishing with 53 yards and averaging more than seven yards per carry. Jarvis Green rushed it two times for no yards. As a team, the offense averaged 4.1 yards per rush.
Speaking of Johnson, he’s got to learn to stop dancing and just run it.
We all know this group is young and inexperienced in spots, but that is no excuse for some of the stuff we’ve seen through the first two games. The line was a big part of the reason the offense was just 2-of-14 on 3rd down.
Defense Did Its Job
After such a bad showing in LSU, Tom Allen’s unit did what it is supposed to do against a G6 opponent. The Tigers routinely got the ball back into the hands of the offense all night long.
Clemson held Georgia Southern to just 12 rushing yards and less than a yard per carry. The Eagles were 4-of-17 on third down and did not get their first first down until late in the first half.
Will Heldt had a strong game with two sacks. The interior was disruptive more often than not, and the secondary played fairly well, despite not being perfect. The defense combined for six pass breakups, with two of those coming from Ashton Hampton.
The negatives? Clemson only had four tackles for loss, but three of those were sacks.
Another Special Teams MVP?
Last week, Jack Smith had more than 400 punting yards. The way that one went, he had to be the MVP for Clemson. Tonight, Nolan Hauser was 5-of-5 on field goal attempts and was the difference in the game, with one going for 50 yards. The five makes ties a career-high.
The argument can also be made for T.J. Moore being the MVP after the junior reeled in seven catches for 103 yards and scored the Tigers only touchdown.