Wake Forest Recap

All in all, the game Clemson fans have been wanting for the past year and a half. The USuCk game from last year made for a great story, but even though the score was fairly lopsided, we didn't dominate the way we did today.

Let me just say, I don't think I've ever been glad to have been so wrong. This was probably the main thing I was wrong about from the preview:

Wake Forest is a well-coached team: they know their fundamentals. Which means we probably can't rely on CJ Spiller or Jacoby Ford to make space for themselves.

CJ Spiller made space for himself quite a few times, making the Wake LB corps look pretty silly. On a few occasions, Spiller even got some help from his teammates. It wasn't the cleanest-looking help I've ever seen, but given what we've had so far this season I'll take it.

Defense
Story of the game. The D-line was sensational, they were ready for every play and every look Wake threw at them. The pressure at the line was so good the secondary was rarely tested. When Wake finally reverted to max protect and Skinner finally had some time later in the third quarter, the secondary played as well as I've seen them all year (granting that it is easier to cover when the opposing team is running max protect). Without any open targets, Skinner still ended up getting hurried.

Some random thoughts:

• If it takes two weeks of practice to look this sharp, let's just treat the Coastal game as a scrimmage and concentrate on FSU.
• Bowers and Sapp are forming the tandem we hoped they'd form last year.
• Goodman and Bowers is starting to sound really nice for next year.
• Skinner didn't run much, but Clemson was shading him in the first half which was good to see. Of course, its hard to believe he burned Maye a couple of times (particularly on that first down run (!)) but there was the adjustment we were waiting for.
• I can't tell you how refreshing the change in defensive philosophy has been. When the team gets a lead, there's recognition by Steele that Wake is going to have to pass so he pins back the ears of the Defense and we get just as much pressure, if not more. Koenning's pseudo-prevent is a thing of the past.
• WF looked like it had a smallish O-line, but still, the D-line has got to be licking its chops after UCF managed 6 sacks against Jacoby Harris on Saturday.

Offense
Not quite as high as I'm sure others are going to be, but let's start with the good: playcalling made more sense. Things were kept relatively simple and I saw less in-drive personnel changes. There were some strange sequences towards the end of the game when they should have been grinding things out, but I give the coaching staff the benefit of the doubt here--they may have been trying out a few things with a some of the second-string players to see how they would respond. You can do that kind of thing with a 5 TD lead.

• Loved the QB draw call. Now maybe a draw later in the game to see what Spiller can do?
• Ellington looked great on his run. No one is going to replace Spiller, and yes, he can't put it on the ground but we should still have above-average production next year from the RB position.
• Good to see Parker running again. I'm not sure why he was so hesitant to scramble against Maryland (he was shaded pretty well by TCU if I recall correctly, so I don't hold that against him) but hopefully its over now.
• Korn, Korn, Korn. If he looks at the bright side, if Parker stupidly sacrifices himself on the goal line again he might have more playing time in the future. (Disclaimer: I loved that play when it happened, but not so much in retrospect. Yes, I know Swinney wanted him to be more aggressive. Its still stupid to intentionally put your QB in harm's way. Particularly when there appears to be a drop-off between your starter and second-stringer...)
• Still waiting to see if Parker can learn to scan through the first couple of targets before delivering a ball. I would say it would make a world of difference for our offense but then that would assume that we aren't dropping passes, so I won't say it.
• Speaking of dropping passes, didn't see much of it, yeah? Maybe its easier to catch when you have the big lead.

Special Teams
Story of the game #2: the WF kicking strategy bordered on insane. As we saw in the Maryland game, if you can find a punter who can consistently boot it 50+ with hang time while pinning the ball on the sidelines, then you can neutralize our advantage. Lucky for us, these types don't grow on trees. Maybe Grobe thought he still had Sam Swank? At any rate, I haven't crunched the numbers but to mitigate (well, effectively eliminate) the possibility of a big special teams play Wake Forest was willing to concede an average of what, 25-30 yards of field position? When you're playing a team that has struggled to move the ball with any consistency, it might be wise to come up with a better strategy next time instead of consistently giving them a much shorter field.

• Note to Andre' Powell: please get someone to sit just inside the goal line during kicks inside the twenty. I can understand being conservative about this in a tight game, but it's just one guy and most of the time the other team is either fair-catching or hoping for the touchback. Not a big deal, but its cost us 20 yards a couple of times in the last two weeks.