Tuesday September 09, 2008

The Citadel Worksheet

The Alabama Game Worksheet
Offensive Goals Made
More than 225 yards passing-273
Fewer than 3 sacks per game-0
More than 150 yards rushing-252
More than 4 yards per carry-7.4
More than 20 first downs-26
Better than 60% pass completions percentage-72%
More than 27 points-45

Offensive Goals Missed
Fewer than two turnovers-2
Red Zone Scoring-80%-66%
Red Zone-60% touchdowns- 50%

Defensive Goals Made
Fewer than 125 yards rushing-89
More than two turnovers-3
Fewer than 3.5 yards per carry-3.4
Fewer than 18 points- 17
Red Zone Scoring-70%-100%

Defensive Goals Missed
Fewer than 18 first downs-19
Fewer than 200 yards passing- 338
Less than 55% pass completion percentage- 63%
More than 3 sacks per game- 1
Red Zone-40% touchdowns- 0%

Penalty yardage fewer than 50 per game- 55

Overall Report Analysis-Grades and Comments:
Offense-Rushing
Interior running game- This was an improvement. James Davis, C.J. Spiller and Jamie Harper were all able to get more room between the tackles.
Perimeter running game-Excellent. The Tigers established the run early and hit on a few big plays on the perimeter.
Option game-N/A
Draws- This was a big part of the gameplan.
Short yardage running game- Clemson had the ball third and two on its second drive Spiller’s one-yard touchdown run.
Yards after contact- I liked what I saw from all three backs especially Harper. Spiller ran tougher between the tackles also.
Offense-Passing
Pass protection-Harper and Korn were not sacked. They were hit a few times and hurried twice.
Underneath passing game- Harper has a shoulder issue and was forced to throw underneath often. The receivers did a nice job of turning the swing passes into nice gains.
Intermediate passing game- Clemson was 21 of 29 through the air so they excelled in all aspects of the passing game.
Vertical passing game-The tight ends were actually involved in the vertical game with Palmer’s touchdown and Barry’s near touchdown. Grisham caught a longer ball as well.
Screens-The wide receiver screens and swing passes were a big part of the plan and worked for most of the afternoon.
Drops- I saw two drops. Brandon Clear dropped one right in his hands from Korn. Barry would have had to make a touch catch on his long potential touchdown.
Yards after catch- Ford and Marquan Jones ran the ball well on the swing passes.
QB throws on time- I thought both quarterbacks threw it on time. Korn has improved in this area.

Offense-Overall
First down yardage- Things were clicking on offense and first down was indicative of that. Things set up well with first down success. Only six times did Clemson have to face second and eight or more.
Third down conversion- The Tigers converted only two third downs but they faced only five third downs.
Big Plays- The Tigers had big plays from Davis, Spiller, Palmer, Barry, Ford and Grisham.
Trick plays- N/A

Defense-Overall
Tackling-This was not the best tackling performance ever but it was a definite improvement.
First down yardage- The Tigers did a great job on first down until the two fourth quarter drives. When Clemson won first down, the defense played well.
Third down conversion- The Citadel converted on 6 of 14 third downs. That number is way too many.
Limit of Big Plays- The Dogs hit on too many big plays Saturday. The ground game’s biggest gain was only 11 yards but the passing game hit on plays of 50, 42 and 37.

Defense-Running game
Interior running game- The Tigers limited The Citadel here. Their bigger runs came on quarterback keeper between the tackles though.
Perimeter running game- Clemson contained well and the speed kept the perimeter game in check.
Option game- N/A
Draws- This was not a big part of the running game plan.
Short yardage running game- The Citadel converted all four short-yardage situations.
Yards after contact- Clemson wrapped up a little better but the Dogs did have a little success here.

Defense-Passing Game
Pressure- The Tigers got only one sack and that was from Da’Quan Bowers. Bowers, Maye, Brown, Jenkins and McDaniel did have quarterback hurries. The Citadel did a nice job in their three-step drop packages in order to limit the rush. Plus they got away with holding several times.
Underneath passing game coverage- I am not sure any aspect of the coverage was good Saturday. I thought there was too much cushion.
Intermediate passing game coverage-The Dogs hurt Clemson over the middle here.
Vertical passing game coverage- The biggest disappointment on the day. Brown lit up the secondary and a tight end faked out the safeties for a long touchdown.
Screens-The Tigers played OK against the screen and limited the big play here.
Passes broken up- Clemens and Butler broke up passes downfield. Branch and McKissic batted down balls at the line of scrimmage.

Open field tackling-Adequate but not spectacular.

Special Teams
Kickoff returns- The Bulldogs kicked it short and it was successful in limiting Spiller and Ford. I look for more to use this strategy.
Kick-off coverage- The kick coverage was decent. They allowed only a 24 and 25 yard return.

Punt return/block- Spiller fumbled one return but it was recovered by Ford. This was an average effort for the day.

Punt coverage-Snap, protection, punt, coverage- I thought the punt was low and Roberts returned it 33 yards. The Tigers netted only 8 yards on the punt.

Field Goals/extra points-snap, hold, protection, kick- Everything was solid here on the six extra points and the one field goal.

Overall Team
Energy, Enthusiasm, Leadership- Playing at home helped and despite a lesser opponent, Clemson’s energy were pretty good.
Coaching
Emotionally prepared-I think they cleared the Bama game and the team seemed prepared but it was hard to tell because of the opponent.
Game plan-The offensive game plan was vanilla but it worked because of the players. The defensive game plan was also vanilla but it was not executed well.
Adjustments- The defense walked up Hamlin into a robber mode and it worked.
Personnel-Hard to argue with a 45-17 win. I liked establishing Davis and Spiller then yielding to Jamie Harper and Korn.
Time outs- N/A

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