Clemson @ Auburn Post Game Thoughts

Saturday night game against Auburn was a bitter pill to swallow because Clemson generally played well and looked like the better more physical team despite losing in overtime on a missed field goal.  The 17 point margin that Auburn overcame to win was Clemson’s biggest blown lead since the 1984 game against South Carolina and was especially tough because Clemson had chance after chance to win the game.  Parker floated and overthrew a wide open Dwayne Allen down the sidelines that would have at worst put the Tigers in field goal range and the Parker missed a wide open Jaron Brown in the end zone on a designed rollout.  The Tigers subsequently missed a 31 yard FG to lose the game that came after a procedure penalty forced the Tigers to re-kick the game tying FG.

Despite the bitterly disappointing result, their was a lot to be encouraged about from the game.  The game plans on both sides of the ball were excellent and Clemson responded with some great adjustments and were able to bounce back after Auburn scored 21 unanswered points in the 3^rd quarter. Clemson played a very physical brand of football on both sides of the ball that has rarely been seen since the 80s and early 90s.  The offensive line played a very good game overall.  Their run blocking is definitely ahead of their pass protection at this point, but this unit definitely looks like the best OL since 2006 and perhaps the best since the Ford Era.  Ellington looked outstanding and Dwayne Allen will easy be the best Clemson TE since Cunningham.  Defensively the players were laying the lumber and really limited Cam Newton dynamic rushing ability.  Bower’s played the best game of his career and has started to play up to his potential.  

Really my only complaint from the game on Saturday was that the coaching staff got way too high after getting the 17-0 lead.  Swinney and the coaching staff were doing too much fist-pumping, high-fiving and back-slapping and in my opinion they acted like the game was over at that point.  It spilled over to the players who were high-fiving fans on the way to the locker room.  Swinney is a great motivator and the players feed off of his intensity, which is exactly what you want as a coach, but when you see that same coach loosen up and relax then it is only natural that the players are going to follow that lead and it isn’t surprising that the team let off the gas in the third quarter.  I think the team took a similar approach after wrapping up the Atlantic Division after the UVA game and the players took their foot off the pedal against South Carolina.

This team has to learn how to win and it starts from the coaching staff instilling in their players to go for the kill when you opponent on the ropes and never take the pressure off until the game is well in hand.  I hope and think that this will be a learning experience to both the coaches and the players that they have to keep same killer mentality throughout the game and throughout the entire season.  Regardless of the outcome, it was a encouraging performance with more a lot more good than bad that if duplicated will result in a great season and back-to-back trips to the ACC Championship Game.  It all starts with coming out with similar intensity and toughness at home against Miami.  Personally, I think we will see it and respond with a win.