Clemson Football: The good, the bad and the sus – Louisiana Tech

John Chancey is back with his take on Clemson football after the Tigers defeated Louisiana Tech 48-20 Saturday evening in Death Valley.

The Good

The third quarter. This is the Clemson we have been waiting to see. The offense looked unstoppable. The defense was stingy. The energy level was high. The focus was tight.

Will Shipley ran for a career high 139 yards. The Tigers need that ground attack to come alive.

DJ had a decent night. He was 17-29 with 221 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers. He is spreading the ball around well. While he tended to target Collins more often than others, he found nine different receivers. He continues to run the ball well.

Joe Ngata: this was just sick.

Myles Murphy had his best game so far, with a sack and two tackles for a loss. I want to see that continue. The Tigers need him to be a force over the next three weekends.

The defense was forcing turnovers. Three interceptions and a blocked field goal recovered by the Tigers. Loved the hustle from Barrett Carter, and he will grow from the unfortunate turnover.

There was a lot of gray in the stands, which was a wonderful sight. You did well, Clemson Nation.

The Bad

The second quarter. The offense is still having problems sustaining drives. The main problem is blocking. The offensive line isn’t playing great, but neither were the other players who must do their part. We usually call out the receivers but last night it was the running backs. Shipley and Pace both missed big blocks.

The defensive backfield isn’t stepping up the way we had hoped. They were down a few players, but this isn’t something that just popped up tonight. Their coverage has been soft through three games. I acknowledge that it still might be strategy driven. If so, the strategy needs to change next week. Don’t let today’s result in Winston-Salem fool you: Sam Hartman is capable of picking this backfield apart if they try to play ‘bend don’t break’.

Clemson football won 48-20 Saturday, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t issues that need to be addressed

It couldn’t have been all strategy driven. There were busted coverages & bad angles. We can’t blame this one on inexperienced coaches. Mike Reid and Mickey Conn aren’t green.

The Sus

The game from start to finish. This team hasn’t put together 60 minutes, and that’s a red flag. Something is still not right. We can see with our eyes that things are getting better in many areas but there is still something sewing dischord in the music.

As we mentioned earlier, I think it’s easy to point at the offensive line and the blocking by the offense as a whole to explain where the disruption to the flow is coming from on that side of the ball.

DJ wasn’t perfect either. Multiple times he missed wide open receivers. On a 3rd down a few minutes before halftime, he had Spector open on the left, but instead threw the ball to a well-covered Ngata. He has improved, but there is still work to do.

We also discussed the corners & safeties, but if we were being objective, we expected a learning curve back there. I think the reason we thought the backfield would be alright is because we expected the d-line and linebackers to carry most of the load.

The front seven of the defense altogether had a decent night, despite missing several players. The concern for this defense is that they are just a step slow. The pressure is there, but it just can’t quite get to the quarterback before he delivers the football. If Furman’s and Louisiana Tech’s quarterbacks can beat the rush, I don’t doubt Sam Hartman, Denis Leary and Phil Jurkovic will beat it too. If the front seven can’t deliver the knockout punches we expected, the defense is in trouble.

I am trying to allow myself to be soothed by the dulcet tones of Dabo Swinney telling me that the injury situation isn’t too serious and many of the players who sat out or were banged up tonight will be back next week, but I am worried. It might just be PTSD from 2021. Keeping my fingers crossed.