The Clemson football team took care of business Saturday afternoon against Texas A&M. Here are five takeaways from the win over the Aggies.
The Clemson football team took care of business Saturday afternoon with a 24-10 victory over the Texas A&M Aggies.
The Tigers trailed 3-0 early in the second quarter, but scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive and never looked back. Clemson took control of the game and was the more physical team as the match up progressed.
Texas A&M had trouble conditioning as the game continued and the Tigers proved to be the deeper team. Not only was Clemson football the more talented team, but the 81,500 in attendance made things really tough on the Texas A&M offense all day. The Tigers had a great home field advantage, credited to the crowd.
Dabo Swinney and his coaching staff didn’t just focus on winning the game, either. The coaches looked for opportunities to get players in the game and build depth for the rest of the season.
The Clemson football team will now turn its attention to the Syracuse Orange, who will be looking to avenge a blowout loss to Maryland on Saturday. Here are five takeaways from the Tigers’ victory over Texas A&M.
5. Derion Kendrick was impressive
One of the things we knew coming into the match up with Texas A&M was that the Aggies were going to try to challenge Derion Kendrick.
Texas A&M noted that the Clemson football secondary was a weakness coming in and they threw several times at Kendrick.
Kendrick proved that he’s not only up to the challenge, but that he knows how to defend in coverage cleanly.
Kendrick is going to be a really good cornerback and he proved Saturday afternoon that he has the talent and ability to match up with anybody.
4. Trevor Lawrence bounced back
After a sub-par outing last week against Georgia Tech, Trevor Lawrence came back and played a great game against Texas A&M.
Dabo Swinney told ESPN that Lawrence “looked like a quarterback” and he played a solid game.
Lawrence completed 24-of-35 passes for 268 yards and one touchdown, as well as an interception.
Trevor Lawrence said he was disappointed in the interception throw, but felt like he had a solid performance. He hit some tough passes, kept plays alive with his legs and did a great job against a really solid Texas A&M secondary.
3. The defensive unit shows promise
The defense took some time to get settled into the game.
The unit wasn’t able to get off the field in the first quarter, but didn’t break. They gave up three points at the beginning of the second quarter, following a 16-play Texas A&M drive and then didn’t give up any more points until the game was well-decided with less than 10 seconds remaining.
Overall, the defense gave up 289 yards of total offense and forced two turnovers.
The unit showed promise. They’re still young and have a ways to improve, but the talent is certainly there.
2. Lyn-J Dixon is really good
Travis Etienne didn’t have his normal eight yards per carry type of game Saturday afternoon.
Etienne still was solid, but it was Lyn-J Dixon that stole the show in the rushing game. Dixon rushed the ball 11 times for 79 yards and one touchdown.
He showed good vision and hit the holes hard.
Dixon proved Saturday that the Tigers’ future at running back is bright and that they’re going to have really good 1-2 depth with him and Etienne this season.
1. There’s still plenty of room to grow
Overall, the No. 1 takeaway from this game is the fact that Clemson still has plenty of room to grow.
The defense was solid, but still has plenty to work on. The offense left a lot of points on the field. There’s still plenty of room to grow.
Do you remember the days where beating a top-12 team by 14 points would be a big deal? Now it feels as if Clemson football fans just expect to win every week by double-digits.
The Tigers have the talent and depth to get back to the CFB Playoff and compete for a National Championship.
But, they still showed that they have plenty of room to grow as the season progresses.