That being said, there's a lot to not like about the game. Way too many miscues and too many rookie coaching calls. Luckily for us, there were just as many, if not more, coming from the other side of the ball and the other sideline.
Defense
I'll start with defense, 'cause I know there's going to be a lot of questions about our performance. For me, the biggest difference between this game and most of the others this season was the tackling, particularly in the second level. Miami's rushers were making people miss, shedding tacklers, and then dragging the pile for yards at a time. Some credit, perhaps more than will ultimately be allotted, has to go to Miami. The three backs they featured are outstanding talents, and they are certainly going to make defenders from all over the country miss and they have the lower body strength to keep going long after the first hit. The problem comes with "shedding" part. Clemson looked like the defense of years past in not being able to wrap up. But even some of this can be attributed to the Miami backs, so I'm not going to get too concerned--yet. We'll see how they look in the coming weeks.
The commentators were saying the the D-line was being stifled most of the night, but I didn't see it that way. I thought they did a pretty good job pressuring Harris when they needed to, particularly when everyone in the stands knew it was a passing down. The difference between this and last week was that by establishing the run early, Miami was able to keep the D-line back a little, particularly in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. We also didn't see Harris on any designed rollouts, and I have to think this was due to the speed of our ends. It doesn't show up in the playcalling or in the stats, but it might be another way the D-line affected the game: taking away a couple of pages from the playbook. All in all, I was pretty happy. And how about that push by Bowers on the 2nd and goal in overtime? I thought Miami had the corner of the endzone when the play began.
The coverage went about as well as I thought it would. Clemson was burned once with the long ball, that's gonna happen once in a while in college with a QB like Harris. Other than that, though, they kept pretty much everything in front of them. The LBs could have been a little more aware on some of the crossing routes--I'm specifically thinking of the TD pass on 2nd and goal from the 5 that put Miami up 17-14. But I was much more upset with the run defense in the second level: bad angles and bad tackling form.
Some troubling aspects, to be sure, but I'm willing to pass part of this off as resulting from the excellent Miami talent and a novel and effective coaching scheme that Clemson probably won't have to worry about the rest of the way.
Offense
First of all, let's get this out of the way now: no, Kyle Parker did not "grow up right before our very eyes" Saturday afternoon. That's got to be the broadcaster cliche I despise the most when it comes to describing QB performance. I do think Kyle Parker showed improvement in one area Saturday relative to earlier in the season: I think he's gotten better at managing the two-minute drill (up until the last 20 seconds of the game, I suppose). (Also, it helps to have your timeouts that weren't wasted by the coaching staff earlier in the half). Also, a couple of times he did a really good job selling the playaction, something I hadn't noticed earlier in the season. If anything, though, this performance was something of a step back. He made poor decisions throwing the ball. He struggled with pressure in the pocket. He missed the lanes on the QB draws (I thought he left more than a few yard on the field). His downfield passes were rarely accurate; its miraculous no Miami defender caught up with the duck thrown to Spiller, and the Ellington pass...ugh. Finally, he's still telegraphing his throws. Its gotten to the point where it looks like he's being coached to look one way first and even fake a throw before looking at his primary receiver. If that's true, kudos to you Billy Napier, its better than nothing. Its getting to the point where I'm really interested in seeing what Boyd can show the coaches in the spring.
Credit due where credit is due, however: Parker did throw good medium-range passes over the middle of the field including the game-winner to Ford. This is how he likes to reminds us that he's a better option than Korn. He really does have a live arm when he gets the chance to plant and throw.
I thought the O-line play was at least adequate, and perhaps the nicest surprise of the day. Still too many -2 to +2 running plays, but by and large they gave Parker time to throw, looked halfway decent getting downfield for some blocks on screens, and even opened a hole or two for the backs.
From a overall perspective, its clear that Clemson is still practicing offense by big play. But I give credit to Napier, he managed to call enough good plays to string together quite a few first downs and keep drives alive long enough to give us a chance to break the big play. And yeah, he kept going back to the RB and TE screens but hey, if Miami refuses to adjust why not go back to the well? Its actually refreshing to have an offensive coordinator who sticks with something that is working. Yeah, that's yet another not-so-subtle dig at Spence.
- Michael Palmer. What can you say? Even if his season is done today (I really hope not), I give him the Offensive MVP, non-CJ Spiller category.
- Jaime Harper finally showed some of that highly-touted strength today. Those were some key carries late in the game with Spiller about to collapse on the sidelines.
Special Teams
Worst game of the season, and we still got a kickoff return for a touchdown. That's what it's like rooting for a team with CJ Spiller. This is running long so I'll go to the bullet points:
- The poor tackling showed up in kick coverage.
- I can't understand what happened to Spiller on the Miami kickoff from their own fifteen. Looked like everyone just kind of hesitated there--no way we shouldn't bring it back to at least the 35, but it was a high kick.
- Credit Bosher, who turned out to be way more of a kicker than I gave credit for in preview.
- Also, Zimmerman takes a lot of heat from this blog, but I give him a lot of credit for hanging in on that terrible snap and getting off a great punt.
- The return team has to open its ears and eyes. Third week in a row we nearly touch a punt on the return and give the ball back. I think opposing coaches are telling the teams to punt the ball high and short and let Clemson do the rest
Both sides of the ball had some problems. For Miami, it was more a problem with blowing timeouts at rather inane moments in the game, costing them from a strategic standpoint late in the game. Also, the poor clock management at the end of the first half, which Clemson managed to duplicate in the last twenty seconds of the game. But the worst call of the game was the pass on third & goal from the five. The last thing you want is Kyle Parker locking on a receiver in a fifteen yard short field. You want to put Parker in motion on a rollout, try a swing pass, or even a fade route to Jones and see how high he can really jump? That's fine. But don't let Parker stand there and rifle it into a crowd. On top of everything, this play was called during a timeout. I don't get it.
Two calls I loved, though: 1) fourth and one to Jaime Harper. That's the Harper from the high school highlight clips. 2) the inside hand-off to Harper on what ended up being the last play before the kick that sent the game to overtime. Big eight yards for Jackson, who put a late, knuckling slice on that last kick but because of the run there was more than enough margin for error. Now, the lost 12 seconds after the run were disappointing but hey, can't fault the initial idea.
I'm gonna wrap this up 'cause its gone on way too long, but I'm still pretty excited about the game. I can't imagine what it must have been like in the heat and humidity to play such a long game with so much emotional and physical investment for the players--I know just watching the game left me physically and emotionally drained. Against the odds and for the first time in a long time, though, the players saw their investment pay off. Now they just need to sustain the same level of investment and they could end up with the division title. Luckily, our second bye week is up. I mean the Coastal Carolina game. Should give us some time to rest.
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