Kicked in the Nuts

Hello All,

Let’s just get right in to it. Back in the Sports Den for the first time since the Oklahoma game, here comes the running diary for the Clemson game. As always, this is taken from notes I made as the game went along, and unless otherwise noted I have recopied them as they were taken.

PRE GAME• Well, at Noon all three pickers on College Gameday picked us to win. Not a great start to the day. Really, that’s always a no-win situation. If they pick against us, I get mad that we get no respect. If they pick us, I get mad and think that they jinxed us. It really is a terrible way to go through life.
• From my friend who knows things: “Coop says he is feeling 100%.” We shall see…
• And on the call today, Dave Lamont and Brian Griese. Wait, Brian Griese?!?!? When did this happen. Also, he literally sounds exactly like his dad. If they did the Pepsi Challenge with those two voices, I honestly would not be able to tell them apart at all. It is almost creepy.

1st QTR• Miami manages to avoid disaster on the kickoff, where Jacoby Ford and C.J. Spiller, the final two legs of Clemson’s 4x100 relay team, await. Exhales all around.
• And Clemson marches right on down the field, aided by Miami’s refusal to blitz. Again. This is getting to the point of being ridiculous. Let’s go through this logically. John Lovett and Randy Shannon probably think that it is too risky to blitz because our corners cannot be trusted to cover on an island. Ok, fine. That means that you believe your front four can get pressure on its own. In fact, for this to work, the front four HAS to get pressure on their own. Otherwise, the quarterback sits back for as long as he wants and the corners, who are not on an island, have to cover a receiver for 4-8 seconds. Without drawing a pass interference call. The problem: OUR FRONT FOUR DOESN’T GENERATE PRESSURE. EVER. Both coaches should have to write this on the blackboard 100 times before every game. It is the most inherently flawed defensive strategy I have ever seen. One of the basic tenets of football is that in order to win defensively, you have to pressure the quarterback. Look at the FSU game, where Christian Ponder dissected us for 59 minutes, until we sent three straight blitzes on the goal line and he couldn’t complete the game winning pass. Or the UCF game, where every time we sent a blitz we got a sack or forced an incompletion (with one exception). Kyle Parker is a good quarterback, but he is a freakin’ first year starter. Remember how lost Marve and Jacory looked last year against the blitz? Well, I don’t think that this kid is too much better than either of those guys. And yet, he looks like John Bleepin’ Elway with five seconds to sit in the pocket on every play. This is going to bite us in the ass. Big time.
• Clemson finishes the drive with a missed field goal. My excitement over this is immediately quelled when ABC announces Daryl Sharpton as an impact player for Miami. Really? This guy is too slow to do anything but play up in the box against the run. He can’t cover. He doesn’t go sideline to sideline well. And yet, he is an impact player? I am so confused it hurts. That’s not to say he isn’t very good in his role. But I just can’t fathom choosing him as an impact player over Allen Bailey, Colin Mccarthy, Sean Spence or even Joe Joseph.
• Miami starts with the ball and Leonard Hankerson makes a spectacular one handed catch. That is three highlight reel catches for him so far this season. Who’d have thunk it? Hankerson then makes a big catch to convert a third down. Jacory goes back to Hank on another third down, only the pass is off target, Hank tips it, and Clemson picks it off. Well, so much for all that momentum.
• Miami goes offside twice on the same drive, and probably three times (Olivier Vernon got away with one at one point). However, they rebound, and a series of penalties and bad plays puts Clemson in to 3rd and 49.
• Miami gets the ball back and Thearon Collier sets up a Bosher field goal. (3-0 UM)

2nd QTR• Clemson starts marching again, except Colin McCarthy (the defensive MVP of the first half) rips through the line, destroys Spiller and seperates him from the ball, which Andrew Smith recovers. First down ‘Canes!
• Miami goes 3 and out, and Clemson responds by marching down the field and scoring a touchdown on a pass to their tight end. (7-3 Clemson)
• Miami then gets the ball back and drives down the field, highlighted by a big Hankerson catch on 3rd down which then sets the ‘Canes up to score moments later on a Damien Berry run. (10-7 UM)
• Two notes on this. First, I love that they are recognizing Berry’s talents and making him the short yardage go-to back. He has a burst unlike that of Cooper and James, and he has a nose for the end zone. Second, this is when I should have gotten the feeling that this was going to be a bumpy, roller coaster ride. But I didn’t. It took me until after the following play…
• C.J. Spiller returns the kickoff, which was supposed to be squibbed, for a touchdown. (14-10 Clemson) That makes every game this season that Spiller has had a play of at least 55 yards. And that’s who we let beat us. The one guy that we couldn’t let beat us. And the frustrating part. After the game, we learned that Shannon had actually called the squib and Alex Uribe just forgot to squib it. YOU FORGOT?!?! Excuse me? Your one job is KICKOFF specialist. How do you forget to squib it??????
• Inside of a minute in the half, Coop rips off a long run and puts Miami in field goal range. Now, Miami can spike the ball, take a couple shots at the touchdown and still kick the field goal if worst comes to worst, all because they have a timeout left…
• Which Whipple promptly takes. This was a bad enough timeout call that Shannon, king of the bad timeout, has words with him on the sideline. Yikes.
• Jacory misses Jimmy Graham in the end zone, then, on the last shot before the field goal try, does the unthinkable and throws a terrible interception. Snarl.

HALFTIME
• Up to this point, the offense has been very blah. I have to imagine that this is Whipple lulling everyone to sleep so that he can hit ‘em hard in the second half. I hope.
• The defense, as I have said, is fine except for the lack of blitz. It is ridiculous how much better this d is when we send one extra guy. It goes from 0% effective to about 90% effective with one blitzer. ONE.
• Special teams…well…not very special.

3rd QTR• Miami gets the ball to start the second half and begins driving. Two big plays by Epps set up a Hankerson TD! (17-14 UM) Now that’s more like it. Miami looks like they are going to come out and stomp on Clemson’s throat early. Bring it on.
• Sharpton makes a big play on D (just to make me look dumb). Miami then gets the ball back and punts. On Clemson’s drive, the refs miss a terrible block in the back on a reverse before Parker finds Spiller WIDE OPEN down the sideline for a 60 yard touchdown. (21-17 Clemson) Spiller beat Sean Spence on the play, who was injured early in the game and limping on this play. Well, that’s twice their stud has beaten us for long scores. And Spence looks like he’s hurt pretty good. What a Shit Burger of a play that was.
• Miami gets the ball back, and Thearon Collier makes another nice play before trying to do too much and fumbling it back to Clemson. Fantastic stuff.
• Clemson is driving when Allen Bailey busts through the line for something like the 147th time this game and forces a fumble…which Marcus Robinson scoops up…and returns for a TOUCHDOWN! (24-21 UM)
• That was the play of the game. It had to be. There is no way Clemson bounces back from that. Oh, and this is interesting. Randy Phillips got flagged for taking his helmet off. Fifty yards behind the play. As he walked on to the sideline. Think that would happen to Major Wright? I say nay.
• Clemson then marches right back down the field and nearly goes back ahead, only a wide open running back drops a pass near the goal line. Clemson kicks a field goal after a big pass breakup by Brandon Harris. (24-24)

4th QTR• Miami starts with the ball and converts a 3rd and 14 on a great route by Laron Byrd for 15 yards. He is easily Miami’s best receiver. Easily. And yet that is his only catch of the day. I have given up on figuring this team out.
• Baby J then rips off a 45 yard run. However, the drive fizzles and Bosher kicks a field goal from 51 yards out. (27-24 UM)
• I officially am ready to be done with this game. I have had more ups and downs than the Lohan family up to this point. Seriously. Stop the ride, I want off.
• Arthur Brown makes a great play in kick coverage to pin Clemson at about the 15 yard line.
• Clemson hits a screen to their tight end, who then gets crushed on the play. Seriously, Sharpton hit him so hard while he was airborne that his body went completely rigid mid air. This is the type of hit that makes you forget how good a game it is and just pray the kid is able to function the next day. Also, it is a mark of just how good the game is that his teammates, huddled around him on the ground, are watching the JumboTron to make sure that he was down before the ball popped out (which he was).
• Miami gets called for their 4th offside penalty of the game before making a big stand and forcing the punt.
• Jacory decides it would be too easy to actually put some distance between the two teams and throws a Pick 6. (31-27 Clemson)
• My stomach is angry with me for picking this team to root on. Very angry.
• Jacory comes back out for the next drive and immediately hits Travis Benjamin for a 69 YARD TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (34-31 UM) And this is why we love this kid… it’s like he thrives on this. Also, this is something like the 34th lead change of the game.
• Spiller rips off a 48 yard run. Stein on the Sidelines sees his house of cards crumbling.
• DVD makes a big hit (what?!) and then Randy Phillips does the unthinkable and picks off Parker in the end zone!!!
• Clemson only has one timeout left. All Miami has to do is pick up one first down and this thing is essentially over. So what does Miami do? Obviously, they pull Patrick Nix out of the unemployment line for this drive and run up the gut to minimal effect three straight times. Great. Almost no time off the clock, no first down, and punting back too an offense that has moved the ball at will. Where was Berry on this drive? If you’re going to run, don’t you think you should be running with the most explosive guy on your roster this late?
• Clemson predictably marches down the field, converts a 4th and 1 and kicks the field goal to send it in to overtime. I am actually relieved that they didn’t score a touchdown. (34-34)

OVERTIME
• Clemson wins the toss and elects to go on defense. Literal reaction in the Sports Den: “F#################KKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!”
• Coop rips off a 19 yard run on the first play of overtime. First and Goal on the 6. This is exactly what we wanted. Whipple is made for this.
• Two terrible run plays and a dangerous, “what was Jacory thinking” pass later, Bosher kicks a field goal. (37-34 UM)
• The defense valiantly puts Clemson in 3rd and 11…before Parker finds Ford (from Belle Glade) for the winning touchdown on a slant route into the gaping hole in the middle of the field. Marcus Robinson is held on the play, but it isn’t called. Clemson wins, 40-37

The Day After• Yep, it still hurt when I woke up. This was the ultimate “kicked in the balls” loss. I can’t even begin to describe how spent I am, mostly emotionally. so many times this game should have been won, and yet Clemson kept sticking around. And just when it looked like Miami might claw their way out of this thing...boom, right in the nuts.
• This game was lost by the coaches, and I rarely say that. They played not to lose, as opposed to playing for the win. The lack of blitzing is the reason Clemson stuck around, as they were able to continually march on the defense. Listen, the D showed a lot of heart and made some huge stops. But they were on the field for entirely too long, and they were forced to sit back and react to what was happening as opposed to forcing the issue, which is what this defense really excels at.
• The specific point where Miami lost was after the Phillips interception, when Whipple called a run play on 3rd and short that got stuffed. No play action? No roll out? No misdirection? No anything? That was the point where you put the ball in the hands of your best player, Jacory, and tell him to go win. And Whipple choked.
• The players actually seemed like they could have done more if the staff had let them; they played with a lot of heart. McCarthy was everywhere, yet we rarely blitzed him. Jacory had time to throw all day, mostly because the o-line was great. And yet, we chose to run both late in regulation and in overtime. Again, this one goes on the coaching staff.
• This was especially tough because it was the first game of its kind all season: Miami expected to win against a good team. It’s the type of game that elite teams find a way to win. At the beginning of the season, I thought Miami was a 3 or 4 loss team. But I guess I got sucked in by the early success and raised my expectations. This is both a good and bad thing. It’s good because Miami should be expected to contend for titles every year. It is bad because it makes you lose sight of the fact that this is still a young, thing, injury-ridden team. There were a lot of positives in this game, but it is hard to recognize that when you should have won the game and didn’t. Miami now has two options. Win out, play in a decent bowl game against a decent opponent and prepare for a big run next season. Or, they can do what most ACC teams do and play mediocre football, play in a mediocre bowl and have mediocre expectations for next season. Honestly, I am not sure what will happen. The overreaction is that this team is terrible and Randy Shannon should be fired. There will be plenty of that. The under reaction is that everything is just fine and Clemson just got the better of us. There will be plenty of this as well. Personally, I think that this is still a good team with good coaches who have some adjustments to make. Winning out is totally doable, with some tough road tests left along the way that will test the young team’s mettle. There is a lot of talent here, and eventually the coaches will figure out how to best use it game in and game out. However, the players cannot lose sight of the fact that every week is a test, and they have no time to stay down about this loss because next week Wake Forest is going to be ready for a dogfight. As Shannon said today, it is up to the coaches to pick the team back up from the aftermath of this game and get them re-focused on the task at hand.

Other Games I Watched- UTEP vs. Tulsa: This just made Boise look pretty bad. Not as bad as UTEP’s uniforms, however.
- UNC vs. FSU: Great finish for FSU, let’s hope they can build on it, save Bowden’s job and beat Florida.
- Rutgers vs. Army: Army has a 6’10”, 285 lb receiver. Let me repeat: Army has a 6’10”, 285 lb receiver. Is it any wonder the lose?
- Ohio State vs. Minnesota: I feel like I have watched every Minnesota game this season. Thanks ESPN!
- Ole Miss vs. Arkansas: To reiterate a previous point: Arkansas blows. They are terrible. Their receivers suck. Their quarterback sucks. Their coach sucks. They just suck. Also, reverse jinx accomplished.
- Virginia vs. Georgia Tech: Well, at least Tech keeps making us look good for beating them.
Best Game: Miami vs. Clemson

Best Uniform: LSU white on yellow.

Game Ball Goes To: C.J. Spiller.

Worst Uniform: Mississippi State. All maroon. Yikes.On a related note, I saw "Milk" for the first time this weekend. Brilliant movie about a brilliant man. And Anita Bryant? Scary. That was only thirty years ago. REALLY scary.

Trojan Enz © Boner of the Week Award: Mark Whipple

Brian Rolle “Should’ve Been a ‘Cane” Award: Jacoby Ford. Need I say more?

Non-BCS Name You Should Know: The 6’10”, 285 lb. ARMY RECEIVER! If only I could remember his name…

And, as always, remember to guard the inbound passer.