I still have nightmares of playing Virginia Tech in 2006, 2007. It soured me on the all white road uni's and made my disdain for all purple Grimace colors very high. I have the most respect for VTech as a program in the ACC. I don't know how they lose to no name teams every year but that fact only has me more worried about this game.
I have been absolutely giddy after the FSU game and haven't been able to do anything other than consume all Clemson info but there has been this unspoken dread as VTech has approached. Post-FSU I was cautiously optimistic but now just cautious. VT blew up our 2006 and 2007 seasons--we fell apart after these games and I don't want that to happen this year. I have always had this game as a big L since its been on the schedule. I thought we would beat Auburn and FSU (just bc of Death Valley) but lose to VT because it is one the road at Lane Stadium. It makes it worse that it is a night game. The problem is that we know so little about VTech this year. I don't know if VT knows exactly what they have.
As Auburn found out--early game play is not exactly representative of overall talent levels. We were holding back against Wofford so how much has VTech been holding back?
How injured are some of the VT players? How bad is that Logan Thomas (VT QB) non-throwing shoulder? He appeared to jam it so bad that he could only hand off with one arm at the end of the game last week. Initially I thought we were going to have the greatest QB injury luck of all-time. The reason this matters is because if the shoulder is really bad then VT is less likely to run much zone read and designed QB runs. Thomas is not elusive but Clemson sucks against running QB's (remember when Maryland's dirt slow QB ran all over us in 2009? Any Dalton TCU?), and it doesn't take much talent to make that happen. Thomas has the 6' 6" frame and is a decent straight line runner. Something to watch.
Speaking of running VT has #4 Wilson and #2 Oglesby who are both plus runners. They aren't exactly bruising punishing runners but Wilson, in particular, has a good burst. They can get to the edge and run up the gut. We haven't been particularly good at stopping either. I don't think FSU is any barometer for claiming we have improved our running D. FSU hasn't been able to run on us for years and Jimbo simply abandoned it last week.
VT receivers have been decent but it remains to be seen how good they will be against elevated competition. We also don't know which will be playing due to injuries but none are world beaters. However, FSU carved up our inconsistent secondary. We have some young talent and supposedly veteran CB's but too many instances of soft coverage against average talent. With Hall missing a step and Meeks being sub-par in pass coverage we are always going to be somewhat vulnerable to the play action bomb.
On defense they are solid but haven't put all the pieces together yet. There second strings suck but they won't play much at all in the Clemson game. The question becomes whether or not we can wear down that first team D. Also Boyd has to be more careful and accurate with the ball. There were three-four passes that easily could have been picked off by FSU. One where Dwayne Allen bailed him out, the tipped ball, a Brown catch and the first pass of the game.
Something that I wanted to post on after the FSU game was how the Tajh to Werner connection was scary. After it happened I felt like I was watching a Bowden/Swinney team. You know, the uber talented team that was weak mentally and prone to making stupid, give the game away errors. I found myself sliding into a defeatist Clemson fan attitude of--well here it comes, I knew this would happen, we suck mentality. The next drive where Boyd was rattled was tough to watch but I was impressed with how he pulled it together. I think that this is Morris's influence.
Hosley is the man and VT will not drop int's so Boyd must be sharp. They will also send pressure that our O-Line hasn't been great at picking up. Last week it was partly Morris's scheme that helped with protection--misdirection and getting the ball out early. Lets hope that continues. The O-Line played well compared to what we thought we had after Wofford. I think Thomas has played pretty well. When Smith gets more healthy I would like to hear talk of him pushing McLain for playing time or for his starting job.
This sounds so cliche but this game will come down to turnovers and special teams. Last time we played VT scored on a punt return, kick return, and a pick 6. The defense played ok in that game but we spotted them 21 points. We can't do that in this game. Beamer ball is talked about too much but they do try to consistently score off of special teams and turnovers. Our coverage and kick units all struggled this past week. We need Crapanzaro to show that he has improved and be able to kick on the road. The sample size is small so far this year to call for a change but he has missed too many xp's and fg's already in his career for my liking. The FSU kicker is amazing and all I want is someone who is perfect on xp's and from within the 40 hits 90-95% of the kicks. My standards have become that low. VT has struggled at punter and have an unproven kicker. They are good at blocking punts though.
We need to get up early so we can force VT to pass more than they would like. If we can stop the run then we can win this game. If not we are going to be relying on our offense to again put up big numbers on the best defense we will face the rest of the year. UNC and the Cocks in a close second and third.
This is the game that pushes you toward greatness. A 5-0 team that has beaten three ranked opponents is big time. No one will be able to say, well you played them injured or x team wasn't as good. 5-0 is 5-0 and two top 15 wins is big time college football. Also remember to tell anyone that Clemson had the toughest schedule in the nation going into the first game. Looking at the currently undefeated teams only LSU has an arguably tougher schedule. Most teams now play 4 cupcake OOC games. So if we win will be in the top ten, maybe ranked as high as seventh in the country. Then it would be about having no letdowns and taking care of GT and UNC (at home).
The question is how far can Boyd, through the Morris offense, carry us and how much can the defense improve. I will be interested to see how the extra linebacker playing in the 4-3 rather than the nickel will help our run D. I think one of the keys to the rest of the season is how good Anthony and Steward turn out to be. If one of them emerges as a dominant Mike or Will then the defense will be improve drastically.
Here is to shaking the Lane Stadium Hokie demons of the past!
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