Maryland Recap

Time to comment on the debacle that was last Saturday. In some ways, I'm reminded of Tommy Bowden's 2006 VT debacle. Both games on the road that reminded us that even with excellent talent at skill positions, without adequate coaching it doesn't matter. And those friggin' all-white jerseys. The comparison falls apart after anything more than a cursory inspection, mainly because VT was a good team, and Maryland, not so much.

Let's lay this out right now: the season is over. We can now officially start looking forward to destroying USuCk in Columbia and maybe, just maybe, losing to another perennially-underperforming program in some middling bowl game that's too embarrassing to mention to your non-Clemson rooting friends. But, but, you say everyone else lost last week, too. Everything is still up for grabs, you say. To which I respond: we still need to finish 5-0 in ACC play to ensure capturing the ACC championship. 4-1 gets you in the conversation, if you're lucky and the only loss is to Miami. After last Wednesday, though, does anyone honestly think we can finish 4-1? ...3-2, even? Before you answer, remind yourself that we just got pushed around by Maryland. I'd say 2-3 is the more realistic scenario, with wins against Virginia and one of either Wake, NC State, of FSU.

On the plus side, what this loss does is to divorce me from the all-consuming fan-based passion that comes when I watch the games. I can now sit back and view them with a more rational mind, almost like I was watching any other old team on a Saturday afternoon. I suspect this is because its become too painful to watch as a real fan.

Defense
The redeeming value of watching this team. I was a little bit upset that Steele hadn't adjusted for the slant routes (although in fairness, Clemson did manage to at least try and jump the routes a couple of times) or the QB keeper. Because Maryland sure scouted the TCU game and decided to alter its playbook to take advantage of weaknesses. I know people are singing Ralph Friedgen's praises up in College Park this last weekend, but really, its nothing special. Its called watching the tapes and making adjustments. Its also called "coaching" in some regions. What's the exact opposite of singing praises? "Screaming damnations", maybe? (Hey, good name for an indie metal band!) That's what should be going on because we weren't ready for Maryland to do the same thing TCU pulled on us. Yeah, we looked better in the second half, but I think that had more to do with Friedgen going super-conservative on offense after the midpoint of the third quarter (ridiculous 4th-down call notwithstanding). Sure, we managed to shut them down but its not hard for our defense when the playcalling is as follows: run up the middle, run up the middle, swing pass or run up the middle.

Special Teams
Coverage was strong, except for that one that Zimmerman managed to crush 20 yards or whatever. I put that one on the punter, the ball has to at least go in the vicinity of where the coverage is going. As for the returns, what can you say about CJ Spiller? That was a jaw-dropping run that's currently making the rounds on pro team blogs already planning for a top ten pick in next years draft. Jackson missed the field goals when it counted, staving off the Treadwell comparisons, perhaps for good. But as has been hashed out here and elsewhere, if you're going to run a set of plays that basically concedes any chance at positive yardage to the other team, the least you can do is gradually move the ball to the middle of the field.(**Unless, of course, Jackson tells the coaches he prefers it on the right hash, then this is a stupid and under-informed criticism).

Finally, hats off to Friedgen for finding a punter at the back of the bench who could kick the ball away from Spiller. This is what all coaches should be doing, but luckily these kind of punters aren't that frequent at the college level.

Offense
Here's a snap-shot of Napier's general playcalling decision tree:

1st: Run ---> 2nd: Pass (WR screen unless you want to do one on third down) ----> 3rd: Pass (WR screen unless it was done in 2nd down. Can't be too predictable here.)

Notice how the decision tree doesn't branch at all. That's a problem.

Anyways: Ugh. Why should I put in any effort here when the coaches apparently aren't bothering either? Instead, let me quote from a post last week:

In all meaningful games we've played to date, our offense (and I mean that in terms of offensive output, not offensive design) has consisted almost entirely of CJ Spiller or Jacoby Ford getting the ball in space and using their superior athletic abilities to gobble up large chunks of yardage.

This was meant as something of a hyperbole, but after last Saturday, can this be questioned? Okay, it does short-shrift Michael Palmer, god bless his TE-receiving ways, but what does it say that our TE is the only other viable option on offense after Spiller and Ford? I think it says we've had terrible coaching on the line, the WR position, the playcalling, and even now we can start worrying about the QB position as Kyle Parker continues to struggle with telegraphed passes and throwing off his back foot. The most troubling aspect of it all, as DrB has been stressing since Saturday, is that there is no improvement week-to-week. Zero. There may really be something to this ridiculously drummed up Spiller-for-Heisman thing. Without Spiller, we'd probably be 1-4 or maybe 0-5, looking at a 2-9 or 3-8 season. When one player is worth 2-4 wins all on his own, that's insanely valuable.

Major Coaching Decisions
Where did that timeout on the two-minute conversion come from? Sure, it ended up working out for the Tigers, but that's a terrible call in my book every time. Take the five yard penalty and kick the extra point. Unless of course, Swinney has about as much faith in the offense as I do.

Final bullet-point thoughts that didn't fit anywhere above:

• Terrible call on the Maryland TD before the half, but yeah...who cares?
• 2-minute drill killed us, both Maryland's execution and our complete lack of one. Sure, we looked okay for at least a couple of plays at the end of the game, but that struck me as some improvised good fortune for the most part.
• it looks like they are in some kind of maximum protect on offense, which stifled our D-line. That puts a lot of pressure on our secondary and LBs since we key off the line play so much. Could be a template for coaches in the weeks to come. Lord knows they won't have to worry about us adjusting.
• Tall, athletic receivers are seeing some success against our CBs
• Willy Korn finally showed a flash of what people must have liked so much about him. Nice ~10 yard run. It's a small sample size, but one knock on him coming out of high school was a lack of pocket presence. He's no Will Proctor back there, but this looks like one area where Parker has a small edge.
• Not-so-daring prediction: now we really will start seeing more of Korn with the season effectively over.
• I've liked some of the last few Clemson "come to our school" ads, but I don't get the new one. Why is Clemson one of the best public universities? I guess the answer is essentially old guys at graduation ceremonies and athletics.
• Don't think I've ever heard a more unprepared announcing duo than the guys on ESPNU last Saturday. The only background they brought into the game was Friedgen's new diet.