Clemson's Speed Was Winning the First Half

[huskered17]

Clemson's speed was evident the first half on defense. They were very disruptive on defense. Also, their speedsters on offense were scary quick. What specifically did our coaches do to negate their effectiveness in both areas as the game wore on?

 

Some thing the last staff couldn't do. Make adjustments as needed, not stick to game plan that doesn't work, because your ego won't let you.

 

GBR!!!

[Back In Black]

i think we just got used to it, and than game planned against it

What do you mean "get used to it"? It's not a cold pool

 

Anyway, the defenses tackling started to shore up especially in the second half. Offensively, their pass rush was neutralized by running between the tackles and some off tackle.

havnt you ever heard rookies saying getting used to the speed? well their you go? that er they got tired...

[killer cacti]

We got worn down as the game went on...plain and simple. We had no response to yall's power.

 

I hold to it that yall's angles are what won the game. Ganz's angle on the int return, and the DB's angle on Jacoby's catch up the middle. A bad angle and he's gone.

[HuskerTrucker]

We got worn down as the game went on...plain and simple. We had no response to yall's power.

 

I hold to it that yall's angles are what won the game. Ganz's angle on the int return, and the DB's angle on Jacoby's catch up the middle. A bad angle and he's gone.

But Killer....CBS said Clemson had all the depth, that Nebraska wasn't substituting. If I heard that one more time I think I would have cut my wrists.

 

Actually I think that we finally quit trying to out run the defense to the sidelines and started running more up the middle, that is how we wore them down a little, which opened up some of the shorter passes finally. Then Castille came in, and he was relatively fresh, had more gas to out run the defenders.

[killer cacti]

We got worn down as the game went on...plain and simple. We had no response to yall's power.

 

I hold to it that yall's angles are what won the game. Ganz's angle on the int return, and the DB's angle on Jacoby's catch up the middle. A bad angle and he's gone.

But Killer....CBS said Clemson had all the depth, that Nebraska wasn't substituting. If I heard that one more time I think I would have cut my wrists.

 

Actually I think that we finally quit trying to out run the defense to the sidelines and started running more up the middle, that is how we wore them down a little, which opened up some of the shorter passes finally. Then Castille came in, and he was relatively fresh, had more gas to out run the defenders.

Agreed. Castille killed us.

[HuskerTrucker]

We got worn down as the game went on...plain and simple. We had no response to yall's power.

 

I hold to it that yall's angles are what won the game. Ganz's angle on the int return, and the DB's angle on Jacoby's catch up the middle. A bad angle and he's gone.

But Killer....CBS said Clemson had all the depth, that Nebraska wasn't substituting. If I heard that one more time I think I would have cut my wrists.

 

Actually I think that we finally quit trying to out run the defense to the sidelines and started running more up the middle, that is how we wore them down a little, which opened up some of the shorter passes finally. Then Castille came in, and he was relatively fresh, had more gas to out run the defenders.

Agreed. Castille killed us.

Actually, I don't think any one player from either side was a game clincher or a game breaker. That is what made this such a fantastic game. It was a total team effort from both sides.

[s.c. husker]

You beat me to it CACTI, yaw got tired. our O-line does wear on d-lines and I think we have one of the best coaches out there as the country will see in the next few yrs., but still the game came down to the last play.

[killer cacti]

You beat me to it CACTI, yaw got tired. our O-line does wear on d-lines and I think we have one of the best coaches out there as the country will see in the next few yrs., but still the game came down to the last play.

Haha...sorry to steal your thunder on your home court...

[HuskerTrucker]

Maybe it did have some to do with conditioning, but Clemson's D line was kicking our tail that first half, no doubt.

[Blackshirt316]

The fact is Clemson isn't faster than we were. If they were Ford scores on that slant route, Joe Doesn't sprint down field and tackle a guy who's running for the endzone (on a gimpy ankle no less) and Castile, our slowest halfback doesn't run right past them in the second half.

 

The difference is that in the first half Clemson was doing things that we had never seen on film, they were just doing and we were having to think and react. Made us seem slow. (kinda like all of last season)

 

In the second half we had figured them out and our coaches let our players know exactly what they needed to do, they no longer had to think and react, they just had to do. Thus they appeared faster.

[husker98]

i think we just got used to it, and than game planned against it

What do you mean "get used to it"? It's not a cold pool

 

Anyway, the defenses tackling started to shore up especially in the second half. Offensively, their pass rush was neutralized by running between the tackles and some off tackle.

 

you can get used to a faster team, it take's a little bit because the players have to adjust what they are used to doing to match what the opponent is doing. Nebraska has speed it's just we where to used to playing KSU, ISU, CU, and Baylor teams that had none ( ok maybe a few players on CU's team did but only a handful)

[bhamHusker]

I don't really accept the premise that Clemson's speed was winning anything during the first half on either side of the ball.

 

Statistically, both teams essentially played to a stalemate in the first half. Each had around 100 yards passing, and NU outgained CU by about 20 yards. The real difference maker for Clemson in the first half was our turnovers (fumble returned for TD, interception returned to our 13 leading to an easy TD). After half-time adjustments, NU outgained CU by about 115 and 30 yards (rushing and passing, respectively) largely on the back of two huge runs by Q. Without those two big runs, our 2nd half rushing yardage would have basically matched the first half. Once again, CU's only points in the second half owed primarily to our own mistakes. We had forced them to punt, and then fumbled the ball on the return giving them the ball on their 44. We followed that up with a pass interference penalty, and CU scored on the next play. The only place where CU's speed seemed to be making a significant difference was on kick/punt returns in which they outgained us by over 50 yards.

 

Clemson had 9 3-and-outs and only managed 3 drives lasting more than 3 plays during the entire game. Two were in the first half, and one in the second, and they got a total of ZERO points from their three long drives. We had 11 drives that lasted over 3 plays, and only 2 3-and-outs. Even so, both teams ended up even in 1st downs with 14 each. We gave up a few big yardage plays that gave them scoring opportunities that they were unable to convert into points. We stuffed them when they attempted to convert on 4th down early in the game and we blocked a field goal attempt.

 

Overall, I'd say that both teams stacked up against each other pretty evenly, with a slight edge probably going to Nebraska. Clemson came extremely close to winning that game if Spiller could have held on to that ball on their second to last play of the game. Given our breakdowns, we were lucky to get that win, but I'll take an ugly win over a loss any day. We owe that win to our defense, and that was consistently good throughout the entire game.

[ClemBert]

On offense: No offensive coordinator

 

On defense: No defensive coordinator

 

We probably did as well as can be expected with the coaching staff we had on hand.

[clone]

I don't really accept the premise that Clemson's speed was winning anything during the first half on either side of the ball.

 

Statistically, both teams essentially played to a stalemate in the first half. Each had around 100 yards passing, and NU outgained CU by about 20 yards. The real difference maker for Clemson in the first half was our turnovers (fumble returned for TD, interception returned to our 13 leading to an easy TD). After half-time adjustments, NU outgained CU by about 115 and 30 yards (rushing and passing, respectively) largely on the back of two huge runs by Q. Without those two big runs, our 2nd half rushing yardage would have basically matched the first half. Once again, CU's only points in the second half owed primarily to our own mistakes. We had forced them to punt, and then fumbled the ball on the return giving them the ball on their 44. We followed that up with a pass interference penalty, and CU scored on the next play. The only place where CU's speed seemed to be making a significant difference was on kick/punt returns in which they outgained us by over 50 yards.

 

Clemson had 9 3-and-outs and only managed 3 drives lasting more than 3 plays during the entire game. Two were in the first half, and one in the second, and they got a total of ZERO points from their three long drives. We had 11 drives that lasted over 3 plays, and only 2 3-and-outs. Even so, both teams ended up even in 1st downs with 14 each. We gave up a few big yardage plays that gave them scoring opportunities that they were unable to convert into points. We stuffed them when they attempted to convert on 4th down early in the game and we blocked a field goal attempt.

 

Overall, I'd say that both teams stacked up against each other pretty evenly, with a slight edge probably going to Nebraska. Clemson came extremely close to winning that game if Spiller could have held on to that ball on their second to last play of the game. Given our breakdowns, we were lucky to get that win, but I'll take an ugly win over a loss any day. We owe that win to our defense, and that was consistently good throughout the entire game.

 

 

it was definitely closer than I thought it would be. the game was still in doubt until the last minute of the game.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

I think the game changed when we stopped trying to out run Clemson and just ran right at them. They are a smaller team than us, from what I gathered, and also faster. We couldn't out run them with misdirections or fancy plays. When we started running right at them our power took over and they had a hard time with it. Our coaches adjust so well and that's awesome to see again. Give Clemson credit on their defense, they are damn good!