I'm probably as bummed about the Clemson game as everyone else, but I saw two positives I wanted to mention.
After the 1st Quarter, our Defense almost shut out their Offense the rest of the game. If we wouldn't have had that crazy Safety at the end of the half, that also gave them the ball back in good field position that led to a quick score (with our Defense right back on the field without rest), they shut Clemson out the entire Second Half and all of the Second Quarter except for those 9 points. We actually out-scored Clemson in the Second Half 7-3 (I realize they were knocking on the door when time expired and probably could have scored if they pressed for it, but still, I'm ignoring that as it didn't happen because you don't know if we could have intercepted, recovered a fumble, or time would have run out since they had no Time Outs remaining).
What lost the game against Clemson was our Offense. We were man-handled and Justin Thomas had no chance to make reads for pitches, runs, or times to set up for passes. The couple of times we adjusted our snap count Clemson jumped offsides, so that should have made it obvious that Clemson was jumping our snap count, and we should have changed it more early in the game to keep them honest. I personally would have gone no-huddle so PJ could see how their Defense was aligned and then either go off a quick snap on motion, get them to jump for a penalty, or make an adjustment call.
I would also like to say that Mills showed that he is a special Back, especially on his TD run, carrying 4 Clemson defenders on his back several yards to cross the goal line.
After the 1st Quarter, our Defense almost shut out their Offense the rest of the game. If we wouldn't have had that crazy Safety at the end of the half, that also gave them the ball back in good field position that led to a quick score (with our Defense right back on the field without rest), they shut Clemson out the entire Second Half and all of the Second Quarter except for those 9 points. We actually out-scored Clemson in the Second Half 7-3 (I realize they were knocking on the door when time expired and probably could have scored if they pressed for it, but still, I'm ignoring that as it didn't happen because you don't know if we could have intercepted, recovered a fumble, or time would have run out since they had no Time Outs remaining).
What lost the game against Clemson was our Offense. We were man-handled and Justin Thomas had no chance to make reads for pitches, runs, or times to set up for passes. The couple of times we adjusted our snap count Clemson jumped offsides, so that should have made it obvious that Clemson was jumping our snap count, and we should have changed it more early in the game to keep them honest. I personally would have gone no-huddle so PJ could see how their Defense was aligned and then either go off a quick snap on motion, get them to jump for a penalty, or make an adjustment call.
I would also like to say that Mills showed that he is a special Back, especially on his TD run, carrying 4 Clemson defenders on his back several yards to cross the goal line.
