Clemson dominated Syracuse, and this game is the one that encourages many FSU fans that the Seminoles will run it down their throat. I don't draw the same conclusion from this. A lot of the rushing yardage came in the second half with Clemson leading big, and a big amount of it came on a few huge runs, which were the fault of the safety. Cuse did not bulldoze the Clemson front seven or anything of the sort.
Box Scorin', Week Six: In which Baylor wrecks the curve - Football Study Hall
Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd completed seven passes that gained at least 25 yards against Syracuse, including touchdown bombs covering 60, 42, 40 and 91 yards, respectively, in a 49–14 win for the Tigers. (Boyd also had a fifth TD pass that traveled a mere 17 yards.) For the game, ten different Clemson receivers combined to average 20.3 yards per catch, more than eight yards better than their average coming in.
Game Film Review: Syracuse - Shakin The Southland -- Open this and follow along with the play-by-play.
Summarizing Thoughts
Seckinger had a very good day in the passing game, but its more and more apparent that he's a liability in the run game. He doesn't hit hard enough, mostly because he's not low enough. He flubs probably 30% of his blocks. He's not a pass protector. He looks very much like a converted WR. If i'm a defensive coordinator, I blitz from the right side every single time I see him on the right side with Anthony. Tajh can make a play sometimes but I'd get a sack or TFL pretty often.
Maybe Darrell Smith can't do it in the passing game, but we have to get better here somehow or another. This weakness stands right to anyone examining our film.
We lined up under center a lot more in this game. There appeared to be more put in to set up the jet sweep that has disappeared from our playbook. It looked like it wasn't repped enough in practice though. I suspect this is to get something ready for FSU and afterwards since we're not getting enough inside. Perimeter runs may open up more holes inside.
It seems to me that The Chad is limiting the playbook otherwise in the run game. We aren't doing much schemewise. If a different play, e.g. a Dart, is called, its called once and never seen again. He's done this his entire tenure here. Seems like we're sticking with the exact same formations as well, which lets defenses set their alignments during the week without much need to adjust on gameday. We're so predictable in short yardage now that we really have to make some adjustments.
Defensive backfield was not challenged aside from Martin Jenkins, who was matched up against a bigger WR in the slot and lost leverage quite a bit. He was in zone a lot, and there was not adequate help inside to stop a few of them. Tampa 2 will do that because the MLB drops further back over the middle. Nearly everyone else at the CB position had a great day. Hunt is not a good QB right now and doesn't have help either.
Front 7 had a quarter or so where they mentally dropped off. Just not focusing with the big lead and they killed us on the zone read as a result. We did not have the Center covered much and his ability to combo on a DT is the primary schematic factor, along with their formation forcing us to walk out the WLB, but I think its more mental.
The Safeties get one more week of work before their midterm exam against FSU, and I'm not thrilled with either spot in angles and run fits. I can't make a judgement in the passing game because they really havent been tested since UGA.