I always like getting the opposing teams perspective about upcoming games, so here is mine.
First I feel confident about this game. I think it's the most favorable match up we could have gotten. Not saying that OU>ND by any means, I just didn't want any part of OU passing attack. I think that'd be a bad match up for us.
I'll admit I didn't watch a ton of your games during the season but I have been watching the condensed games on youtube the last week or so.
Keys to Clemson winning:
-Create pressure with only the front 4. We typically do a good job of this, but we didn't vs SC had to start bringing help which left us exposed on the backend which they took great advantage of.
-Stop the rush- During our run the last few seasons we've do a great job of always being able to take away the run. I expect this to continue in our game simply because our interior d linemen are top notch
-Safety Play has to be better- these guy are great in run support, but can look completely lost in coverage at times. Especially on double moves. The pressure isn't always going to get there, and they will have to make a couple plays
-Run the ball (with our best player)- I was frustrated several times this season by our coaches subbing ETN out so frequently. I'm hoping it was all part of the master plan and he gets 20+ touches this game. The guy averaged over 8 ypc but there were games he'd get less than 10 touches!!
-Keep TL upright- for being a true freshman the kid has been incredible. The thing that scares me about him is it's been pretty easy. We haven't seen him play under real pressure (game on the line situation). Does he have that "it" factor Deshaun Watson had?? No one knows.
I think yalls best chance is to incorporate some hurry up. Venables isn't a huge fan or it. He likes to line up and make adjustments. SC hit us with a ton of HUNH. They were able to get into a lot of favorable match ups that we couldn't make adjustments to pre-snap and they took advantage.
At the end of the day I think this is a 4th quarter game, but our athleticism and team speed end up being too much. Our first round DL all came back for one reason, to win another NC. I think there's much more pressure on ND, to try and rewrite the narrative from 2012 and finally get back over the hump.
Initial score prediction 31-21 tigers after a late TD to salt it away.
First I feel confident about this game. I think it's the most favorable match up we could have gotten. Not saying that OU>ND by any means, I just didn't want any part of OU passing attack. I think that'd be a bad match up for us.
I'll admit I didn't watch a ton of your games during the season but I have been watching the condensed games on youtube the last week or so.
Keys to Clemson winning:
-Create pressure with only the front 4. We typically do a good job of this, but we didn't vs SC had to start bringing help which left us exposed on the backend which they took great advantage of.
-Stop the rush- During our run the last few seasons we've do a great job of always being able to take away the run. I expect this to continue in our game simply because our interior d linemen are top notch
-Safety Play has to be better- these guy are great in run support, but can look completely lost in coverage at times. Especially on double moves. The pressure isn't always going to get there, and they will have to make a couple plays
-Run the ball (with our best player)- I was frustrated several times this season by our coaches subbing ETN out so frequently. I'm hoping it was all part of the master plan and he gets 20+ touches this game. The guy averaged over 8 ypc but there were games he'd get less than 10 touches!!
-Keep TL upright- for being a true freshman the kid has been incredible. The thing that scares me about him is it's been pretty easy. We haven't seen him play under real pressure (game on the line situation). Does he have that "it" factor Deshaun Watson had?? No one knows.
I think yalls best chance is to incorporate some hurry up. Venables isn't a huge fan or it. He likes to line up and make adjustments. SC hit us with a ton of HUNH. They were able to get into a lot of favorable match ups that we couldn't make adjustments to pre-snap and they took advantage.
At the end of the day I think this is a 4th quarter game, but our athleticism and team speed end up being too much. Our first round DL all came back for one reason, to win another NC. I think there's much more pressure on ND, to try and rewrite the narrative from 2012 and finally get back over the hump.
Initial score prediction 31-21 tigers after a late TD to salt it away.
