A few more thoughts on last night's beatdown:
- I hate to be critical after a win like that, but one thing that I would have liked to see in this game is a more diversified rushing attack. Clemson was clearly committed to stuffing the run between the tackles, and they did so quite well. I know that's where Marcus Lattimore likes to do his work, but I'm sure he's fully capable of running tosses, sweeps, and other runs outside the tackles. We should have tried some plays like that a few times to see if we couldn't open things up for him. WR screens might have also worked in this situation. We also could have tried running the ball with Stephen Garcia, but my impression is that Steve Spurrier didn't want to risk injury after Garcia hurt his non-throwing arm. Maybe we should have brought Connor Shaw in to run the Wildcat.
- We really need to work on our XP team and trying to do something to get Ace Sanders more return opportunities. The missed XPs are very frustrating, and Sanders is typically bottled up long before he catches the ball. He did have one decent return, though.
- I honestly can't fault Clemson's game plan too much. They committed to stuffing Lattimore, and they succeeded there. Garcia threw the ball better than they could have expected, which was why we scored as many points as we did. On offense, the Tigers had a decent approach, but the players failed in execution, particularly Kyle Parker and his receivers. In the end, though, it all falls on Dabo's head, and the result this year for Clemson was a thoroughly mediocre team. I think Dabo gets one more year to right the ship, but anything less than eight wins next year and I think he's gone.
That's a wrap on Clemson. On to Auburn and a shot at the SEC Championship. Stay tuned for more coverage.