The Football Brainiacs

Clemson Offense

—Clemson likes to run a lot of screens.  With Deion Cain, they’d fake the bubble outside and use his speed to take the top off of a defense.  With him out, it hurts their cause, but there are other guys who can play.

—I like the Renfrow kid.  He’s a true freshman receiver who seems to make tough catches.  He’s a guy who isn’t a burner, but is a smart player who will make the blue collar catches to keep the chains moving.

—Speaking of true freshmen, Mitch Hyatt is the starter at left tackle for the Tigers.  He’s a really good player and has all the tools to be a great one.  He’s technically sound and very smart.  He’ll be a draft pick in a few years.

—Wayne Gallman is a gazelle.  He has top end sprinters speed at the tailback position.  He’s not very elusive, but if he gets some daylight, he can get north and south as well as anyone.  He’s a guy who gets stronger as the game goes on, but he doesn’t get a lot of carries.  He gets only about 20 carries a game and has rushed for a little over 1,300 yards this year.

—Deshaun Watson is the reason that Gallman doesn’t get more carries.  While Gallman totes it 20 times a game, Watson gets it for about 13.  It seems like there are a lot of automatic calls that they allow Watson to make.  Against Notre Dame when Watson recognized man coverage in against a front that only had four down linemen and one linebacker shaded to the slot, he wasted no time running an automatic draw.  It went big on the first play of the game for them.  They also use him to run their version of what the Sooners used to do with Blake Bell in the Belldozer formation.  Watson isn’t a blazer, but he’s plenty fast enough to keep D-Coordinators up at night.  He’s also very accurate as a passer completing right at 70% of his passes he throws it for about 270 a game and runs it for another 68 on the ground.  Everything starts and finishes with Watson.  Evans, Alexander and Striker will be critical in limiting him.  Like Baker Mayfield, he is the x factor in their offense that makes it go.

—Turnovers are something that surprised me about this Clemson team.  They fumbled 23 times(almost twice a game) losing 12 of them, and threw 13 interceptions for 25 turnovers total.  Defensively they got 14 picks and recovered 9 fumbles for 23 total.  I don’t know if I’ve seen an undefeated team with a minus two turnover margin.

—Their kickoff coverage unit is the weakness in their armor if there is one.  Like the Sooners in 2008, they will give up an occasional big return, and have had 2 run back for scores this year.  Alex Ross could be the x-factor in this game.

—Artavis Scott is probably their best receiver.  He’s a physical clone of Sterling Shepard, although he may be just a little less explosive than Shepard, he’s still a dang good player.  He’s the go to guy for Watson in the pass game.

—Jordan Leggett is a matchup nightmare for defenses at tight end.  He’s a lot like Mark Andrews.  He can run like a receiver, and has great hands.  They’ll line him up as an H-Back, in the slot or like a conventional tight end.  He can definitely hurt you down the seam, and in the play action game.

—The overall offensive line is mixed with young talent like Mitch Hyatt, and a few guys who have been around a while.  Oddly enough, their offensive line in terms of experience is very similar to that of Oklahoma’s.  A couple of young studs mixed with some solid veterans who have been around a while.  While they are are a very solid unit, they’re not an overpowering unit that is going to mash you in the run game a lot like an Alabama likes to do.  They’re going to scheme you, formation you, and try to catch you out of position.  If you line up wrong, or give them a numbers advantage they will gash you.  The read option and screens are their bread and butter.  In order to do those things you have to be athletic.  You have to get up to the second level in the option game, and you have to get out and block people on screens.  They’ve got a nice mix of power inside and athletes on the edges like you like to see.

—If I had to compare them to an offense the Sooners have faced this year, it would probably be TCU.  Fortunately the guys didn’t have to face Trevyone Boykin, but Watson is a lot like him.  They’ve got a couple of really good receivers and enough speed to hurt you with big plays.  They’re not going to run the ball as well as a Baylor does, and I don’t think they’ll be able to overpower any of the four teams they could potentially face in the playoffs.  Going back to turnovers, not to sound like Jimmy Johnson of the 93 cowboys talking about the Bills, I think they’ll turn it over.  I think the speed at all three levels of the Sooner defense could potentially give them problems.  The Sooners will have to be disciplined in coverage, in the option game, and make plays when they are there to be made.  Most importantly, the Sooners will have to make tackles in space.  When Clemson hurts you, it’s when you turn Watson loose on a scramble or on a read option, or when they break tackles and go the distance on a screen or a long run like the bowl game last year.  Overall i’d give a slight edge to the Sooners IF they’re dialed in and have done their homework.

 

Clemson Defense

—Shaq Lawson is the best defensive end that Orlando Brown will have faced this year.  At 6’3″ 270, he’s not the biggest guy, but he’s just one of those players that can make it happen.  He’s a guy that could play a rush linebacker in a 3-4 in the NFL.  He’ll be looking to make a statement in this game, but with Orlando’s pedigree, I think that he’ll be looking to get his name out there too.  It’s definitely a matchup I’m gonna keep an eye on.

—On the interior of their d-line they go 6’3″ 300 & 325, and very, very active.  They play hard and they get upfield in a hurry trying to disrupt the other team.  They’re really good players, so Alvarez, Darlington and Kasitati will have to play low and physical with these guys to cut off penetration and not let the pocket get squeezed.  I did notice that they got a little bit tired at times and as a result weren’t quite as edgy.  If they can get penetration it’s going to be a long night.  OU likes to run so many counters and zone plays that if these guys can get an upfield push, then the offense will have a hard time moving the ball.

—Kevin Dodd is the guy that Dru Samia will be facing on the right side.  The strong side defensive end is just that.  Bigger than Shaq Lawson at 6’5″ 275, he has a big physical presence on the edge of their defense.  Like the rest of these guys, he can run.  If anything you can use his height against him if you catch him playing too high.

—The heart and soul of their defense to me is middle linebacker Ben Boulware.  A highly touted recruit coming out of high school, Ben goes 6’0″ and 240.  He’s big and physical, while being able to run.  For Sooners fans think of a healthy Ryan Reynolds or Austin Box (RIP).  He’s emotional, smart and nasty.  Last year against the Sooners he had a pick 6 on an ill advised throw.  He’s a guy who is going to do his homework and it shows in his play.  The guys will have to block him on every play and definitely account for him.  He can hurt you in blitz situations, he tackles in space, and he can come downhill and be a thumper.  He may be looking to lay a lick on Samaje Perine to send a message.  It’ll be a good matchup.

—On the Sooners side, while they’re at a -2 on the season for turnovers, the Sooners are at a +10.  The Sooners to this point in the year have definitely taken better care of the ball than the Tigers, and not to sound too cliche’, whoever makes the least mistakes in this one will win.

—As far as mistakes go, like most Venables defenses I’ve seen, I think the middle of the field will be an area that can be attacked.  If for no other reason than how much he likes to blitz the safeties and move the linebackers around, it creates a natural void there in the middle.  Subsequently, if you can pick up the blitz well in the run game, you can pop some big gainers if you can get a hat on a hat and stop the upfield penetration.

—Athletically they’re a lot like Tennessee.  They’ve got those down south country boys who seem to grow on trees, and all of em can run.  With how active they are, they’re a lot like TCU, Texas and Baylor in how they come at you from a lot of different angles.  We all know that Texas gave the Sooners fits, but the key to all of that is just blocking them.  If the Sooners are shut down early, it’ll be hard to come back against them because Clemson’s offense is a lot better than Tennessee’s.

—Their secondary has some holes in it.  Not because of athleticism or anything, but because of the style of play that they employ.  They’ll let you catch the ball, but then tackle you.  They try to make the big play and create negative plays.  If it’s over 3rd and 6, then here comes a blitz.  Venables wants to get the QB in a situation where he has to make a quick decision.  Then he’s banking on you making the wrong one.

—Finally I think OU is going to have to wait a few plays or maybe even a possession or two to see who prepared better.  Barring a game changing early mistake by either team, I think that athletically and size wise, the Sooners may need a second to adjust to their athleticism.  I think the guys can hang with them and beat them IF they play sound fundamentally and pick up the stunts and blitzes.  They can’t drop passes, jump offsides, have holding penalties etc.  Establishing the run game will be the difference in this game.  If Perine and Mixon get going it’ll be tough on them.  If they can shut them down it’ll be the other way around.  I look for someone to come up big who you don’t hear about a lot.  Maybe a Mark Andrews or a DeDe Westbrook might be someone who steps to the forefront.

 

I don’t usually like to offer up a prediction but in this case I will do so. Final score prediction:

Sooners 35

Clemson 24