Clemson's Superior Team Speed

[RedDenver]

This is a classic matchup. NU's offense vs CU's defense. CU's speed vs NU's power. B12 vs ACC. Special teams will be a key, as it is in all big games. I'm really looking forward to this game, I hope it lives up to the billing. In my own biased opinion, I think NU will control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and that will be the determining factor; although CU will be in it all the way to the end with defensive turnovers and special teams plays.

 

[rkhufu7]

The often repeated mantra coming from the Clemson sites in recent weeks has been about Clemson's superior team speed. They weren't ranked in the preseason top 10 based on no talent. What's your take on Clemson having more speed than that seen in the Big12? Fact or illusion? Do athletes from the southeast have more game speed than those from Texas or California? Doesn't make sense to me. They speak of their overall defensive speed and the speed of RB Spiller and receiver Ford. Sounds like Spiller is their version of our Helu.

My 5A high school, now 4A won 3 state/national titles in football and have beaten kids from all over the nation and Jamaica in track & field. Load of speed in Texas high schools, get some!

 

[junior4949]

The often repeated mantra coming from the Clemson sites in recent weeks has been about Clemson's superior team speed. They weren't ranked in the preseason top 10 based on no talent. What's your take on Clemson having more speed than that seen in the Big12? Fact or illusion? Do athletes from the southeast have more game speed than those from Texas or California? Doesn't make sense to me. They speak of their overall defensive speed and the speed of RB Spiller and receiver Ford. Sounds like Spiller is their version of our Helu.

Clemson is not faster than OU or TX.

I dunno, MIA had more speed than Cal and they lost.

Clemson is the faster than OU and Texas, much faster actually.

Javid Best was the fastest player on the field in the Miami/Cal game and was difference maker.

Speed kills and this game concerns me because of that.

LSU has this little like 5'6 or smaller guy that is the faster player in all D1, but they still lose games and he plays very little. I guess the point is that there has to be something behind all that speed for it to matter. In most recent times, we've seen the speed versus power debate answered time and time again. Ohio State is a power team. They've been blown out by speed teams like USC.

Miami had superior speed and talent with regards to their game with Cal. They've been having top 5 recruiting classes down there, and we all know there's speed in Florida. The problem with Miami and the reason they looked slower stems from coaching. When you're on the field overthinking everything much like our players did under Clownahan, it makes you look slower.

I'd be willing to bet that across the board Clemson isn't as fast as OU or Texas. You don't pull in the kind of players and rank as high in the recruiting rankings as OU or Texas to see a team like Clemson have superior talent. It just doesn't happen. Clemson may have a player or two that is faster than OU or Texass's fastest player, but across the board I bet they don't have their speed.

 

[zE bOp]

dedhoarse

 

[robsker]

The often repeated mantra coming from the Clemson sites in recent weeks has been about Clemson's superior team speed. They weren't ranked in the preseason top 10 based on no talent. What's your take on Clemson having more speed than that seen in the Big12? Fact or illusion? Do athletes from the southeast have more game speed than those from Texas or California? Doesn't make sense to me. They speak of their overall defensive speed and the speed of RB Spiller and receiver Ford. Sounds like Spiller is their version of our Helu.

Clemson is not faster than OU or TX.

I dunno, MIA had more speed than Cal and they lost.

Clemson is the faster than OU and Texas, much faster actually.

Javid Best was the fastest player on the field in the Miami/Cal game and was difference maker.

Speed kills and this game concerns me because of that.

LSU has this little like 5'6 or smaller guy that is the faster player in all D1, but they still lose games and he plays very little. I guess the point is that there has to be something behind all that speed for it to matter. In most recent times, we've seen the speed versus power debate answered time and time again. Ohio State is a power team. They've been blown out by speed teams like USC.

Miami had superior speed and talent with regards to their game with Cal. They've been having top 5 recruiting classes down there, and we all know there's speed in Florida. The problem with Miami and the reason they looked slower stems from coaching. When you're on the field overthinking everything much like our players did under Clownahan, it makes you look slower.

I'd be willing to bet that across the board Clemson isn't as fast as OU or Texas. You don't pull in the kind of players and rank as high in the recruiting rankings as OU or Texas to see a team like Clemson have superior talent. It just doesn't happen. Clemson may have a player or two that is faster than OU or Texass's fastest player, but across the board I bet they don't have their speed.

Your assessment seems spot on. Clemson's overall speed is probably not like that of Texas, OU, or likely Texas Tech, Okie State or Missouri for that matter. It likely is faster than us. But as you say other factors play in too. All other things equal, speed beats lack of speed --- but all other things are not equal.

 

[skersfan]

I think we will see it very quickly.

Did anyone watch Florida State/Wisconsin.

I am not saying Clemson is Florida State or we are Wisconsin, but the speed durring that game was quite obvious.

Speed does not mean talent. OU and Texas got credit for better overall talent than Clemson at the beginning of the year. But not by a lot. My guess is that OU and Texas has the better players and better coaching at this time. Dabo may be as good we just do not know yet.

I still think we lose this game. And it will come down to their superiority in athletes, their mind set in having their coach quit on them, and wanting to show everyone they are what they were projected to be. We are still in the buying in stage.

The two teams we faced with what were considered more talented blew us out. Texas Tech, was a great game, but overall I doubt they have the talent that Clemson does.

Thinking Clemson may have even close to the talent of Oklahoma is not a pretty sight.

I do not think they are at that level, but my guess is they are the second best team we will have faced this year. And I am a Texas Tech fan guys.

 

[zE bOp]

Wisconsin slower than--->

We have decent team speed on NE, we are gonna be alright.

 

[I AM FOOT FOOT]

man some of ya act like we roll on hoverrounds!!a speedy offence can be handled with a well coached defence.I think its called zone ! and we got Bo and a bunch of extra practices to prepare.we will be fine.

 

[junior4949]

I think we will see it very quickly.

Did anyone watch Florida State/Wisconsin.

I am not saying Clemson is Florida State or we are Wisconsin, but the speed durring that game was quite obvious.

Speed does not mean talent. OU and Texas got credit for better overall talent than Clemson at the beginning of the year. But not by a lot. My guess is that OU and Texas has the better players and better coaching at this time. Dabo may be as good we just do not know yet.

I still think we lose this game. And it will come down to their superiority in athletes, their mind set in having their coach quit on them, and wanting to show everyone they are what they were projected to be. We are still in the buying in stage.

The two teams we faced with what were considered more talented blew us out. Texas Tech, was a great game, but overall I doubt they have the talent that Clemson does.

Thinking Clemson may have even close to the talent of Oklahoma is not a pretty sight.

I do not think they are at that level, but my guess is they are the second best team we will have faced this year. And I am a Texas Tech fan guys.

I think your Florida State/Wisconsin example is another great example how most of the time speed dominates power. Until the Big 10 figures this out, I don't expect them to do anything else besides lay down in the BCS bowls. We will see how speed versus power goes when Penn State plays USC. I'm guessing USC barring several turnovers beats Penn State by 3 TD's.

At the end of the day, I think it can all be easily answered. I'd rather have a 220 lb. LB that runs a 4.3-4.4 than a 250 lb. LB that runs a 4.7. When we were dominate, we had great team speed especially on D. When we started to go more towards the slow bigger LB's, we started to fail on D.

With regards to Clemson's speed versus how we do against them, I'm putting more stock in coaching here than anything else. I think our team will play harder than Clemson, and I think they are better coached. I think we pull out a squeaker against a more talented team.

 

[Micheal]

ive heard that Clemson has speed and im not denyin it, the backs look fast. we'll see how that speed goes again the Blackshirts. im hoping for a good game. if nebraska comes out and plays the kind of good football we know they can play we should be all right. GO BIG RED!!

 

[skersfan]

My guess is that it will be close, but if it is a run away/blow out I doubt it will be in our favor. I think DaBo is their Bo.

Either way I hope it is as good a game as we are all hoping for.

God knows I a can be wrong, I expected Tech to kill us.

Unfortunately I see this as the second best overall team we face this year. That means between Oklahoma and Missouri. I would rather not revisit either of those games. Talent normally wins.

 

[Vince from ShamWOW]

Clemson has a a bit of team speed but from what I've read they have an undersized D-line. Even though they may be fast the NU o-line should be able to ware them down by constentaly making them get off blocks in pounding it right at them. If successful in waring them down, NU should start to yield bigger gains mid way through the second Q and throughout the rest of the game.

On the defensive side of the ball, I don't see the NU D having any problems handling Clemson's players and I do see them causing havoc against the CU o-line making their QB run for his life just before he gets whacked for a loss.

 

[In the Deed the Glory]

Comparing overall team speed of Clemson against a team like Oklahoma is ridiculous. One of the fastest men (not football player, men in any sport) in the country at (Griffin at Baylor) looked average against their secondary. OU is fast, very fast.

I respect Clemson and think it will be a good game, but to think that they are going to have a speed advantage at every position on the field is absurd. Nebraska has speed, too. Is Clemson's fastest two players faster than NU's fastest two players? Probably. Is everyone from top to bottom faster, I highly doubt it.

 

[Clempsun]

Comparing overall team speed of Clemson against a team like Oklahoma is ridiculous. One of the fastest men (not football player, men in any sport) in the country at (Griffin at Baylor) looked average against their secondary. OU is fast, very fast.

I respect Clemson and think it will be a good game, but to think that they are going to have a speed advantage at every position on the field is absurd. Nebraska has speed, too. Is Clemson's fastest two players faster than NU's fastest two players? Probably. Is everyone from top to bottom faster, I highly doubt it.

Not really absured to say that Clemson has a speed advantage at every position. Name one position on the field that Nebraska will have a speed advantage. Tommy Bowden built this team to be all about speed and finess. Clemson is without a doubt one of the fastest teams in the country. What separates us from the big boys of College football is physicality and offensive line play. I believe very much that our team took on the personality of Tommy Bowden while he was the coach. He is all about running by people and throwing it over the top than running over people and pushing them back. Dabo is doing all that he can to reverse that trend at Clemson. Any Clemson fan will tell you that we are a completely different team from the Bowden coached group to the Dabo coached group. I'm not saying that we are there yet but we are headed in the right direction. The game against Nebraska will go a long way in showing how we measure up against a team that is big and physical. I really do liken this game to when we played Boston College. Nebraska is very similar in alot of ways. The thing that put us in the "W" column against them, is that we came out and played VERY physical. They were the bigger team, but we came out hit them in the mouth...took their best punch and got right back up to hit them again. In the first game against Alabama, we were unable to fight back after they got up early. Again, a Tommy Bowden coached team layed down after seeing that they were not the more physical team.

But back to the topic...please show me what position on the field that Nebraska has a speed advantage. I just can't see it.

 

[Clempsun]

One thing to consider is the Clemson game against Alabama. I know it was the beginning of the season and that 'Bama turned out to be a title contender, but show me one 4.4 guy on their offense (MAYBE Jones). Their defense had bigger, stronger linebackers, average speed in the backfield and on the line yet still managed to dominate Clemson physically (0 yards rushing). I think if we can play this brand of physical football, speed won't matter as much as we may fear it will.

Alabama has one of the fastest Defense's in the country. Look at how they were able to stay with Florida. They may not have any 4.3 or 4.2 guys but they have a group of players that are in the 4.5 range and fly to the football. And add on top of that, Alabama has one of the most dominant offensive lines in recent memory. Their offense is all about running between the tackles and getting you off balance with play action. I would not put Nebraska in the same category as Alabama. You guys are good, but Alabama is the real deal. And as I have said before, the Clemson team that played Alabama is not the same now.