W
Will Helms
Guest
— Clemson is more talented in every aspect of the game and it’s only a matter of time before the Tigers break it open. South Carolina’s defense is talented enough to play with the Tigers for short spurts, but as we saw on the first drive, it’s so hard to stop Clemson’s offense three plays in a row. The Tigers moved with ease down the field, mostly through the air before petering out inside the red zone. If there’s a “weak point” on this Clemson team, it’s the offensive line and that’s the matchup the Gamecocks have to exploit if they are to compete.
— Ryan Hilinski is just so inconsistent right now. He started with a pretty good throw to Shi Smith (great release as well) and followed it with a batted screen and awful throw in the general direction of Chavis Dawkins. It was behind on an out-cutting route and Derion Kendrick (freakishly athletic high school prospect, by the way) broke on it for the easy pick. Obviously, those are the kinds of plays that are killer. Even if that ends up incomplete and the Gamecocks punt, the Tigers have to drive the length of the field to score. Instead, the Tigers scored in three plays (When the Tigers picked up a blitz on third and long).
— Clemson’s offense is predicated on exploiting matchups. While Jaycee Horn seems to be following Justyn Ross, the Tigers have gotten Tee Higgins one-on-one with… J.T. Ibe. Twice. It’s led to two Clemson touchdowns. The Gamecock defense needs to get pressure and prevent the big play. It looks talented enough to get some stops.
— Offensively, absolutely nothing is working for the Gamecocks. There just isn’t enough talent on the offense — on the line or at receiver — to either run or pass consistently on Clemson’s defense, which is talented. The Gamecocks pulled out all the stops on their fourth offensive drive but without explosive plays, you’re one incompletion away from failure. That happened when Kyle Markway dropped a wide open play action pass on second and nine. The whole drive got derailed with a drop that should have been a big play. On third-and-long, South Carolina couldn’t do much and settled for three.
Without the ability to dig themselves out of behind-the-chains situations, the Gamecock offense has to be perfect. For an example of that, on South Carolina’s 15-play field goal drive, they ran nine successful plays, good for a 60 percent success rate (Above the national average of about 45 percent). On Clemson’s first two touchdown drives, the Tigers ran successful plays just three of eight times but two were big plays for touchdowns. South Carolina’s complete lack of explosiveness this season has been by far its biggest weakness.
— The ensuing defensive drive was about as South Carolina as it could have been. After Jaycee Horn had completely shut down Justyn Ross, the Gamecocks switched Horn to Higgins and Ross caught a quick pass. On third and 15, a coverage breakdown left Higgins open. Then, Ross was awarded a catch after voluntarily stepping out of bounds and back in. Will Muschamp challenged it and it was still incorrectly ruled a catch. Later, Trevor Lawrence dropped a third-and-9 snap but found Ross in the end zone for what was initially ruled an incomplete pass. It was the incredibly dumb, “If it touches his hands in bounds and he completes the catch eventually, we award him possession the instant it touches his hands” rule. By rule, the right call but that’s a brutal rule and I honestly hate it. That drive was so South Carolina it hurt.
— As of halftime, South Carolina’s offensive success rate has been higher than Clemson’s. The Gamecocks just cannot function with even one negative play. Clemson could go backwards on back-to-back plays and still have the chance to pick up a third-and-long. With South Carolina, it feels like any drop, missed block, penalty or unsuccessful run puts the offense in an impossible situation. There’s no bail out (Deebo Samuel or today, Bryan Edwards) to help the Gamecocks in a longer-than-expected situation. The offense is just stuck when that happens.
— Clemson just buries teams in the “middle eight” and it happened to South Carolina in this one. The Gamecocks made the score 14-3 with a field goal at the seven minute mark of the second quarter. Over the next three drives, the Gamecocks managed eight total yards as the Tigers added two touchdowns and an end of half field goal to make it 31-3. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the South Carolina offense just couldn’t do anything.
— A couple things I noticed about individual performers in this one: Jaycee Horn was matched up on Justyn Ross in the first quarter but moved to Tee Higgins’ side in the second quarter. Each guy was highly ineffective against Horn while the other feasted on whichever safety Clemson could get their athletic receivers mismatched against. It’s easy to overlook individual efforts when the team as a whole is playing poorly, but Horn’s second half of the season has been excellent, allowing less than two receptions and 20 yards allowed per game.
Similarly, Javon Kinlaw recorded a quarterback pressure in 20 straight games, which has to be some sort of record for a defensive tackle. Jammie Robinson continues to play as one of the best open field tacklers I’ve ever seen in the secondary, leading the team with 10 tackles for the second-straight game.
— Ryan Hilinski is just so inconsistent right now. He started with a pretty good throw to Shi Smith (great release as well) and followed it with a batted screen and awful throw in the general direction of Chavis Dawkins. It was behind on an out-cutting route and Derion Kendrick (freakishly athletic high school prospect, by the way) broke on it for the easy pick. Obviously, those are the kinds of plays that are killer. Even if that ends up incomplete and the Gamecocks punt, the Tigers have to drive the length of the field to score. Instead, the Tigers scored in three plays (When the Tigers picked up a blitz on third and long).
— Clemson’s offense is predicated on exploiting matchups. While Jaycee Horn seems to be following Justyn Ross, the Tigers have gotten Tee Higgins one-on-one with… J.T. Ibe. Twice. It’s led to two Clemson touchdowns. The Gamecock defense needs to get pressure and prevent the big play. It looks talented enough to get some stops.
— Offensively, absolutely nothing is working for the Gamecocks. There just isn’t enough talent on the offense — on the line or at receiver — to either run or pass consistently on Clemson’s defense, which is talented. The Gamecocks pulled out all the stops on their fourth offensive drive but without explosive plays, you’re one incompletion away from failure. That happened when Kyle Markway dropped a wide open play action pass on second and nine. The whole drive got derailed with a drop that should have been a big play. On third-and-long, South Carolina couldn’t do much and settled for three.
Without the ability to dig themselves out of behind-the-chains situations, the Gamecock offense has to be perfect. For an example of that, on South Carolina’s 15-play field goal drive, they ran nine successful plays, good for a 60 percent success rate (Above the national average of about 45 percent). On Clemson’s first two touchdown drives, the Tigers ran successful plays just three of eight times but two were big plays for touchdowns. South Carolina’s complete lack of explosiveness this season has been by far its biggest weakness.
— The ensuing defensive drive was about as South Carolina as it could have been. After Jaycee Horn had completely shut down Justyn Ross, the Gamecocks switched Horn to Higgins and Ross caught a quick pass. On third and 15, a coverage breakdown left Higgins open. Then, Ross was awarded a catch after voluntarily stepping out of bounds and back in. Will Muschamp challenged it and it was still incorrectly ruled a catch. Later, Trevor Lawrence dropped a third-and-9 snap but found Ross in the end zone for what was initially ruled an incomplete pass. It was the incredibly dumb, “If it touches his hands in bounds and he completes the catch eventually, we award him possession the instant it touches his hands” rule. By rule, the right call but that’s a brutal rule and I honestly hate it. That drive was so South Carolina it hurt.
— As of halftime, South Carolina’s offensive success rate has been higher than Clemson’s. The Gamecocks just cannot function with even one negative play. Clemson could go backwards on back-to-back plays and still have the chance to pick up a third-and-long. With South Carolina, it feels like any drop, missed block, penalty or unsuccessful run puts the offense in an impossible situation. There’s no bail out (Deebo Samuel or today, Bryan Edwards) to help the Gamecocks in a longer-than-expected situation. The offense is just stuck when that happens.
— Clemson just buries teams in the “middle eight” and it happened to South Carolina in this one. The Gamecocks made the score 14-3 with a field goal at the seven minute mark of the second quarter. Over the next three drives, the Gamecocks managed eight total yards as the Tigers added two touchdowns and an end of half field goal to make it 31-3. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the South Carolina offense just couldn’t do anything.
— A couple things I noticed about individual performers in this one: Jaycee Horn was matched up on Justyn Ross in the first quarter but moved to Tee Higgins’ side in the second quarter. Each guy was highly ineffective against Horn while the other feasted on whichever safety Clemson could get their athletic receivers mismatched against. It’s easy to overlook individual efforts when the team as a whole is playing poorly, but Horn’s second half of the season has been excellent, allowing less than two receptions and 20 yards allowed per game.
Similarly, Javon Kinlaw recorded a quarterback pressure in 20 straight games, which has to be some sort of record for a defensive tackle. Jammie Robinson continues to play as one of the best open field tacklers I’ve ever seen in the secondary, leading the team with 10 tackles for the second-straight game.
