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The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly: Clemson Edition

What went right (nothing), what went wrong(everything), and the rest Vs the Tigers. Plus team grade.

By Jerry Steinberg
Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Let me start with this,  Clemson is a really good team.

But they aren't so good that they should look like the 01' Hurricanes Vs McNeese State.

It was that bad.    Historic bad.

I don't know what the game plan was on defense, but there was no adjustment or plan B, that is for sure.

The offensive line was manhandled by the Tigers front.  It was so bad Brad Kaaya was knocked from the game with a concussion.

I just don't see how you can make a case for Al Golden and his staff after this one.  I am not a fan of mid season firings, but who could argue against it at this point?

Some particulars below.

The Good:

  • Included Willis McGahee and Kellen Winslow:

  • That's it.  This was as poor a performance as you could ever have imagined.  Worse perhaps.


The Bad:

  • The Clemson O made it look easy on an opening 8 play 82 yard TD drive that concluded by completing fooling the D on Jordan Leggett's TD catch.

  • The second drive was even easier.  And the lack of composure is not at all a good thing.

  • Clemson had 212 yards of offense in the 1st Q. No misprint.
  • The Tigers rushed 2 against 5 and Kaaya still got planted and knocked from the game by Shaq Lawson.  What else is there to say about the O line at this point?
  • This...  really???   This team isn't just bad, they are undisciplined.   There were a few more even after this tweet.

The Ugly:

  • Not even ugly anymore that they exist.  Ugly that they can't be disputed.






Team Grades:

grades
For everyone!



Offense -

The RT position remains a ridiculously glaring weakness.  Danny Isidora is not doing any better than Sunny Odogwu.  Kc McDermott,  also struggling.   Not much else going well for this unit either.

Rare 1st Q misread by Kaaya was costly when this was still a game (5 minutes in).

Malik Rosier struggled in his first extended game experience.

Defense -

Just awful.   There aren't enough superlatives to describe the atrocious play by this unit.

Special Teams -

22 yard punt by Justin Vogel in the first quarter was ugly.  His second quarter 73 yard bomb downed at the 1 was amazing though. Probably could have spared this group the F, but this was a team flop.

Coaching -

Nothing is improving.  I don't know why assignment football Vs the speed option is an impossibility for this team, but at some point that has to fall on the coaches.

I don't think any strategy would have worked on offense today as they were too severely disadvantaged up front.  But I didn't see adjustments or attempts at them here either.

Overall, the kids weren't ready to play.  Just a flat out awful and unprepared looking group.

Again I simply don't know how Golden and his staff survive this debacle regardless of how the season plays out going forward  (a mid season dismissal still seems like a long shot but frankly would be hard to argue against).

Who honestly believes this team will compete for the Coastal anyhow?

This loss may be the one that KOs the season.   At least it wasn't FSU?!