I will say one thing…..I have been reading the messages on “CockyTalk” and most of them are pretty worried about this game. The typical trashing changed this week…......
One USC poster summed it up best when another poster asked “What is the difference since last year”.........He answered it very impressively by saying this:
In Clemson’s final 3 games of 2011 leading up to the USC game, the Tigers scored 31,13,13 points…..the last three games of 2012, Clemson’s final 3 games leading up to the finale had Clemson scoring 56,45,62 points and that is a heck of a difference….....
I could not have said it better myself. Our defense doesn’t need to play great to win….just okay. USC’s offense has to play pretty much flawless and hope our offense is having a bad day.
This year is interesting. It doesn’t seem like either fanbase is feeling secure with this one, which means it should be a good game. As a Clemson fan, I’m worried about whether we can block well enough and concerned about the defense in general. I don’t like how we match up against USC’s offense.
im not quite so worried about blocking. i know their d-line is redic, but our o-line has been good enough to give boyd the 2 seconds he needs. im really more worried about shaw picking apart our secondary, or his backup coming in, that kid can hurl the deep ball.
im not quite so worried about blocking. i know their d-line is redic, but our o-line has been good enough to give boyd the 2 seconds he needs. im really more worried about shaw picking apart our secondary, or his backup coming in, that kid can hurl the deep ball.
I agree about our secondary. We have to try to contain him so he doesn’t kill us running, but that gives him time to pick us apart in the secondary.
I think Clemson has more questions than we do. The only top 25 team you’ve played is FSU and you lost to them. And who has FSU beaten? FSU would give you an idea of the speed and power you will be facing. I think we will play defense like the UT second half - nickle most of the time.
Our questions are Shaw and Clowney. How healthy will they be? How will Shaw play? He hasn’t done that well on the road. How much pressure can we put on Boyd? Will we utilize our great tight ends against Clemson’s questionable secondary?
The wild card is Ace Sanders returning punts and kick offs. If he gets daylight look out.
Considering how bad they have played on the road this year and how banged up they are, not to mention we have no early Dec championship game to look ahead of this year….give me the tigers. We should expose their corners in this game. I can’t see us rushing the ball well. The hurry up offense will be a BIG factor as the lamecocks are poorly conditioned…...heck Clowney hasn’t even practiced in a few weeks.
I don’t think the matchup will be our O and their D, the matchup to watch is our D vs their O. If we can stop them a few times we win easy IMO. Fully confident in our O. It’s so much more fluid then last year and Boyd is on his game. Our D is the question. And special teams not kicking to Ace.
I agree that the biggest concern is our D. The point about not kicking to Ace is a good one. In a close game, he could make a difference if we’re not careful.
Considering how bad they have played on the road this year and how banged up they are, not to mention we have no early Dec championship game to look ahead of this year….give me the tigers. We should expose their corners in this game. I can’t see us rushing the ball well. The hurry up offense will be a BIG factor as the lamecocks are poorly conditioned…...heck Clowney hasn’t even practiced in a few weeks.
I don’t think the matchup will be our O and their D, the matchup to watch is our D vs their O. If we can stop them a few times we win easy IMO. Fully confident in our O. It’s so much more fluid then last year and Boyd is on his game. Our D is the question. And special teams not kicking to anyone with 2 legs.
This is shaping up as the classic offense vs defense type game. Which unit will assert their gameplan? At this point I must say I’d like to see Clemson win. I’ve never been to Columbia, but plan on attending next year’s game. I went to Clemson last year, and everyone I met was first class. For that reason I’d like to see Clemson win.
I think this will be very similar to the FSU game for us. Our offense will get its points, but the key will be whether SCAR’s D slow them down just enough like FSU did. If SCAR’s D holds us for a few series, & they have the potential to do so, their offense has the potential to go off on us like FSU did. Hell, how many times do you score 37 points & still lose?
SCAR is strong where we are weak. They run well enough, even w/o Lattimore (remember, they beat us w/o him last year) that it will force us to respect the run, & we typically get burned when we over-commit to play-action. It gets worse when you have a QB like Shaw who can buy time for his receivers to get open…or worse, tuck it & run. Then, much like the FSU game, one or 2 big returns, & it backs the D against the wall. It all depends on how well our D & STs maintain their assignments, & how well they respond when SCAR hits them in the mouth.
