The Clemson Insider

By William Qualkinbush.

Each week, we will re-watch Clemson’s game and give a detailed breakdown of the action. Also included will be observations, personal opinions, and statistical analysis to help provide a full context.

–The main reason I enjoy watching these games again is because it adds perspective to what we’ve already seen. The caliber of performance Clemson gave in Tallahassee was incredibly high, particularly on defense. I dare say there aren’t more than a few teams in America that could play that well for the measure of the game. Florida State played well, too, which is why this will be considered one of the games of the year at season’s end.

–Jameis Winston was still the story, even as a suspended player. From somehow thinking it appropriate to take snaps in his full game attire during pregame warmups to positioning himself as a coach on the sidelines, it’s abundantly clear he has no idea how to function as a person in society. Stay tuned for more thoughts on this later in the week.

–I unofficially counted the number of times the ABC cameras showed Winston on the sidelines during the broadcast. On 34 different occasions, a camera showed the suspended Seminole on purpose—and that’s not counting the abundance of times he was caught in a shot of someone else given his apparent coach status standing at the most prominent point of the sideline. Seriously, somebody give this guy a clue!

–Clemson began the game working Florida State from sideline to sideline, as expected. It worked on the second drive, when Artavis Scott broke a big play on a bubble screen. Also, Cole Stoudt was intimately involved with keeping the football in the running game. He pulled the ball and ran for a first down on the first play of that second drive.

–Scott never would have gotten Clemson inside the red zone if not for Isaiah Battle diving out to halt the progress of a free blitzer on the edge. Last year, FSU had a ton of success blitzing the nickel back. While there were a few hits on the quarterback, the same level of success simply wasn’t there because of better awareness up front.

–The pass Cole Stoudt and Jordan Leggett missed on right at the goal line immediately gave me flashbacks of the Kyle Parker-Jaron Brown near miss at Auburn in 2010. That game didn’t end well for the Tigers, and this felt like a similar loss.

–Ammon Lakip’s missed kick was the placekicking equivalent of what happens when I roll my wrists over too quickly when I swing my driver on the golf course. You might call it a “duck hook”, and it simply shouldn’t ever happen to someone who practices every single day.

–Defensively, the Tigers came out blazing and really never let up. There were four players in the backfield on the first snap of the game for Florida State. It was the beginning of a four-quarter struggle to run the football for the Seminoles.

–The star of the first quarter was Corey Crawford. His presence was dearly missed at Georgia, a truth that was clearly displayed early and often on Saturday. He popped Sean Maguire on his first pass attempt on a rollout and did an outstanding job setting the edge against the run.

–The Clemson front seven had a field day. Florida State’s offensive line is widely considered to be the best in the country, but the Tigers completely controlled the line of scrimmage at every point in the game. I’d mention guys here, but it really was a team effort in that regard. Everyone contributed, and the Seminoles committed a bunch of uncharacteristic penalties due to the onslaught.

–Stephone Anthony was an absolute animal. He destroyed center Mark Barron on a handful of occasions with a relentless pass rush and got several hits on Maguire throughout the contest. Anthony also pursued the ball well from sideline to sideline and was impactful against the run.

–My initial response to Maguire’s performance was more positive than negative. Upon further review, I still think he played alright. He held the football way too long at points, creating more problems for himself. However, Clemson’s pass rush and coverage combination was incredible throughout the game. Rarely did you see a missed assignment that was catastrophic on defense. Maguire showed an ability to make some plays given the time to read coverage.

–There were two occasions in the first half where Florida State hit big plays because of great play calls against Clemson’s coverage. The first was on a screen pass to Karlos Williams that netted 27 yards. The Tigers were in Cover 4, meaning both cornerbacks ascended into deep coverage. Playaction occupied B.J. Goodson long enough that there were two blockers to neutralize him on the edge. It was a great play call by the Seminoles.

–On the next drive, FSU struck again with a perfect call. The receivers ran a flood route against a Cover 3 look. Nick O’Leary was the middle man running an out route about 15 yards downfield. The deep man on the left third of the field (couldn’t tell which player) cheated up on O’Leary, which makes sense. That left Robert Smith to cover the deepest route, a post corner to the sideline. In the coverage look, Smith came over from the left hash to the midfield logo and had to wait to make sure the single route on the near side didn’t enter his zone. Once that route cleared, he sprinted to the far side of the field and couldn’t get there in time. Smith wasn’t slow on the play. It was just another great play call and a great read by Maguire.

–Speaking of Maguire, Jimbo Fisher asked him to throw 12 passes in the first 15 snaps of the game. That’s lunacy with a first-time starter—absolute lunacy.

–I loved the gutsy draw called on 3rd & 13 on Deshaun Watson’s first series. It was the perfect play at the perfect time, and it led to some nice momentum for the Tigers on offense.

–Speaking of Watson, he was an absolute stud. There were several clutch throws from him throughout the game that seemed downright professional. Among them: the pass over the linebacker to Mike Williams rolling right, back shoulder throws to Germone Hopper and Stanton Seckinger, his scramble for a first down after nearly being sacked, and the improbable catch by Williams at the end of the third quarter. Those plays were incredible for anybody, particularly a freshman in just his third game of college ball in a game of that magnitude on the road.

–When Watson entered the game, the quarterback running lanes were suddenly closed. Florida State adjusted well to the zone read after it gave them problems in the first quarter. It might have been part of a Watson-specific scheme, but the defensive staff there deserves credit regardless.

–It was puzzling to see so much one-on-one action between Vic Beasley and Cameron Erving. Georgia neutralized Beasley with extra blockers—mostly tight ends and running backs—either chipping or all-out helping the left tackle in pass protection. I figured Florida State would do the same, and they did at times, but not nearly as frequently as I imagined.

–After halftime, the FSU offense became a quick-trigger attack. On the only true scoring drive of the game for the Seminoles, Maguire was only asked to complete three-step dropback passes. The only plays that weren’t quick were runs and one screen off playaction to O’Leary. Excellent call by Fisher and his staff to make things a little easier on the young quarterback.

–After the aforementioned scramble on third down by Watson, Clemson looked poised to make a big play on a throwback screen to Jay Jay McCullough. But Battle whiffed on his block and McCullough was tackled for a loss. The entire FSU defense flowed with the football, to the point that all but one backside defender was either at or beyond the vertical middle of the field. That was a great call by Morris that should’ve been a 40-yard completion or more, but one missed assignment forced a punt.

–Ryan Norton’s bad snap has created a lot of angst among Clemson fans, but it’s important to note what preceded it. The Tigers were facing 2nd & goal from inside the one when Eddie Goldman plowed through Norton before the ball was snapped. A penalty was caused on the play, but I’d say it’s reasonable to assume a direct correlation between getting destroyed on the snap before and uncorking a nine-foot-tall snap—Kirk Herbstreit’s words, not mine—in a critical spot for the Tigers.

–I don’t have data on this, but I’m not sure the overwhelming majority of college kickers would make the second kick missed by Lakip. It was a 40-yarder from the left hash on the road—not an easy kick by any stretch of the imagination. His prior struggles made it seem worse, and it’s still not acceptable, but that was a fairly tough kick he missed at that moment.

–Jayron Kearse intercepted a pass early in the fourth quarter that was tipped by Anthony, who was locked in tight coverage with O’Leary. It was a poor decision by Maguire, but he was justified in looking for a flag on the play. Anthony grabbed O’Leary, which looks like pass interference, but the officials rightly noted O’Leary initiated the contact by extending his arm into Anthony’s chest. That’s one of my pet peeves—officials calling defensive pass interference when a guy reacts to an aggressive receiver—so I was glad to see a no-call there.

–Questionable playcalling doomed Clemson to a three-and-out with under nine minutes to play, or so it seemed. The Tigers got four yards on first down, which is a standard gain. On second down, I didn’t hate the decision to run, but Watson should have seen the writing on the wall. The first play featured a six-man defensive box, an invitation to run the ball. The next play featured the same personnel, but the nickel corner cheated in toward the box and a safety came crashing down just before the snap. Depending on when Watson made the read, there should’ve been seven or eight identifiable defenders in the box prior to the snap. Also, the run was designed to go left—right where the two additional defenders were positioned. In short, Watson failed to check out of a run play directed right at an overload run blitz. It’s no wonder the play was stopped at the line of scrimmage.

–Other than Anthony, the star of the game for Clemson’s defense was Mackensie Alexander. He locked down Rashad Greene from start to finish. In fact, out of an unofficial six times targeted in man coverage, Alexander only allowed two catches—and one was the bomb Greene caught in which Alexander fell down. He was outstanding all game long and could be the Tigers’ best cover corner since Justin Miller.

–One unsung hero in the game was Bradley Pinion. He averaged 43.1 yards per punt and unleashed two rugby-style punts that flipped the field in the fourth quarter. Those two punts alone averaged 56.5 yards. That’s pretty stout.

–The interception by Jadar Johnson came on a play that is generally difficult to execute for a young quarterback. Maguire attempted to throw the ball between layers of coverage, over the linebackers and underneath the secondary. Generally speaking, young passers tend to underthrow or overthrow the ball, but rarely does it find its target if the coverage and pass rush are both sound. Maguire overshot his target and Johnson took advantage.

–C.J. Davidson played very well in the game, but it will unfortunately be marred by his fumble on Clemson’s final drive of regulation. Goldman made a great play once again, stripping the ball from Davidson as he fell. The ball was secure and the defender just made a super play. It was one of those days for Clemson, it seemed.

–I have no idea why Swinney would call timeout with 11 seconds left in regulation. I’ve gone through every possible scenario and simply have no clue.

–Goldman was, once again, responsible for the final offensive snap of the game for Clemson. He blew up the Tiger offensive front and clogged the middle, forcing Adam Choice to bounce the ball outside. It was yet another example of his dominance in the fourth quarter.

–There were two fatal flaws in the final play call. The first was the shotgun snap. It was simply too much ground to make up quickly with the Seminoles getting penetration at the point of attack. The second was using Adam Humphries as a motion man. No one thought Humphries was getting the ball there, so no one bothered to watch him go in motion in front of the play. It took an extra blocker away from the box, where FSU had nine defenders going against eight blockers. It’s tough to convert when you’re a man short.

–The defense seemed demoralized or desperate on the game-ending drive. It seemed like there were several instances of over-pursuit, which allowed Karlos Williams—who Clemson bottled up all night long—to explore cutback lanes. Certainly, the presence of a flawless kicker made Clemson’s prospects grim at the outset of the possession anyway.

–In all, it was a good performance, considering the opponent, venue, and magnitude. The Tigers succumbed in overtime to the top team in America, not exactly something to be ashamed about.

God Bless!