CLEMSON — Clemson and Virginia Tech are locked in a low-scoring affair here at Memorial Stadium as the Hokies lead 10-3.
The Tigers’ offense has continued to struggle, and mightily at that, and was met with a smattering of boos as the team exited the field.
Dabo said as he headed into the locker room, “How do we fix that? We are fixing to fix that right now?”
This offense just isn’t playing anywhere near a level capable of winning ACC games on a consistent basis. Clemson has mustered only 67 total yards and just a measly 27 through the air. Bryant Wesco has eight receiving yards. T.J. Moore has none. That is inexcusable.
Right Into Teeth: Virginia Tech’s defensive front has been one of the best in the league from a numbers standpoint. Despite that, Clemson has run it right into the teeth of that front four at times. Gideon Davidson has had some success running north-south and is averaging over four yards per carry. The Tigers ran it for 65 yards in the first quarter alone. The problem is they rushed for only two in the second.
Keep Pressure On: Will Heldt, Amare Adams, Caden Story and Jahiem Lawson have each registered a sack already. Elliot Washington has a hurry. The defense has generated enough pressure to keep Ethan Grunkemeyer from getting completely comfortable, and he has only thrown for 79 yards.
The secondary is mostly doing its part, clamping down on the Hokies’ pass catchers. At least one of those sacks was due to no one being open down the field.
Virginia Tech was finally able to put a touchdown drive together late in the second quarter. A 17-play, 87-yard drive that took seven minutes off the clock.
One nice play in the first half came when Clemson was not fooled on a Va Tech fake punt. On 4th and 12 from their own 23, the Hokies decided to try and catch the Tigers sleeping. However, Jerome Carter was not fooled and stopped the play two yards short of the sticks.
Two areas where the Tigers might need to adjust are when Virginia Tech pushes tempo and not leaving running lanes open for Grunkemyer to escape.
Freshman Inconsistency: No doubt, Tait Reynolds has been up and down since being named the starting quarterback. The freshman’s accuracy has been inconsistent at times, and that has continued into the first half tonight. On the Tigers’ first possession, Reynolds had guys wide open twice but came nowhere close to putting the ball where his guy could get it.
The freshman just doesn’t always see the whole field well, and also tends to hold on to the ball a tad too long at times.
Reynolds is 7-of-10 for 27 yards. Is that good?