What we learned about Clemson football in win over Wake Forest
The Clemson football team opened up the 2020 season with an emphatic win over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons by a score of 37-13, but it really wasn’t even that close.
The Tigers jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Clemson football ended up playing a total of 78 players- 80 made the trip- and there was never any doubt over the course of the night about who the better team was and what the outcome would be.
As we continue to look back at the season-opening victory and prepare for the season moving forward, here are the major things we learned about Clemson football.
Things we learned about the Clemson football offense
- Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne & the stars are truly just that: Stars.
- The offense used the middle of the field much more than in years past.
- Braden Galloway brings a new dimension to the unit.
- The play-calling was extremely balanced and played to the Tigers’ strengths
- D.J. Uiagalelei has beaten out Taisun Phommachanh on the depth chart
- The starting offensive line had its hiccups, but got better as the game progressed.
- The second-team offensive line has talent, but development still needs to be done
- Demarkcus Bowman is extremely explosive and he came out firing on all cylinders. He was just a missed tackle away from six on a couple of occasions.
Overall, Clemson could’ve hung 50 on the board relatively easily if it wanted to. The Tigers dropped two touchdown passes in the end zone and it’s clear that the starting offensive unit is going to be special.
Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne both had big games and it’s clear that we’re going to continue to see this unit improve as the season progresses.
Things we learned about the Clemson football defense
- Tyler Davis and Ruke Orhorhoro suffered injuries and underwent MRIs. Hopefully it’s nothing serious.
- Myles Murphy and Bryan Bresee are as good of defensive linemen as we’ve seen- and that may be an understatement.
- The defensive backfield still has plenty of work to do.
- Tigers were flying around to the ball all night long.
- Simply put: You’re not going to get much of a running game going against this front-seven.
If teams are going to score points against Clemson this season, it’s going to have to be done with a special quarterback who can drop dimes and spread the field out because it’s not happening on the ground.
This defensive line is special and we got to see glimpses of just how good the two freshmen are all night long.
The biggest concern is the secondary. Too many times guys were out of position or just got beat in coverage. They’ll learn from it and get better- and it should be noted that both Derion Kendrick and Mario Goodrich were out- but that is the biggest concern moving forward.
Things we learned about the Clemson football special teams
- B.T. Potter shows a renewed confidence, going 3-for-3 in FG attempts.
- Will Spiers had a nice day punting the ball, as well.
B.T. Potter was shaky at times last year, but there was no doubt about any of his three field goal attempts Saturday night.
Potter connected on a 42-yard field goal in the second quarter and then followed that up with a career-high 52-yarder that would’ve easily been good from 60 yards out. He hit a 29-yard attempt, as well, in the third quarter.
Both Potter and Spiers had nice days and it was good to see them come through with consistency in the opener.