It’s a good thing that FSU did not come prepared for the Tigers or Death Valley. If they had, the Tigers would have been an 0-1 team after the Monday night start. Maybe they believed all their own hype or maybe they figured that Clemson was still the same old team from last year, leaning on the running game crutch to save its life. Whatever the reason, FSU did not show up in the first half and allowed Clemson to outright own them both offensively and defensively. At the half, FSU had scrounged up one first down and 62 offensive yards. Clemson was at about 17 first downs and 200 offensive yards. Somewhere between the end of the first and beginning of the second halves FSU must have been slapped awake and the Tigers decided that FSU had given up so they would sit on their haunches. FSU came out and, if not for some exceptionally lucky clock management and a defense that finally decided to wake up, would have won the game. The following are some observations that I made through the game.

- The Valley was not as electric as last years GT game but it was still pretty impressive. The crowd got into Weatherford’s head early, causing him to call a timeout in the first 10 minutes and walking away from the huddle and taking delay of game calls a few times. Illegal procedures were also the soup du jour for the FSU line.

- The FSU line either forgot how to block or the Clemson front 7 will be eating QBs the rest of the season. I was amazed at how Weatherford was staring down Orange all night. I think he gave up on his line after a while and immediately scrambled out of the pocket towards the end of the game. After watching Watkins chase him down from the opposite side of the line, I knew that he would be in for a long night. I think 7 was the magic number of sacks on Weatherford and I think every pass but two or three were hurried. Honestly, I think Rashad Jackson almost swallowed him once. The front 7 coverage was awesome, picking out the runs and their coverage on almost every play.

- Freshman talent abounds in the Tigers this year. Between Linthicum’s phenomenal TD catch to McDaniel’s spine shattering blitz at the end of the game, the Tiger Freshmen came to play and showed that the talent level is definitely on the rise at Clemson.

- Offense looked a little rusty at times but they had some new tricks up their sleeve that they were trying out for the first time in front of the crowds and TV. Harper was impressive in his demeanor and had some soft touches as well as some darts to receivers all night. Two of his passes in the third quarter were on the mark and were only missed by inches and the receivers not looking up in time. I am not sure if that was a timing issue on Cullen’s part or the receivers but the ability to hit his receivers in stride like that was assuring. No INTs or unforced errors was good things as well.

- Receivers looked impressive and hungry for the ball. Kelly showed why he will be the go to guy this season and even took some serious hits for the team on 3 and outs a few times (that last one was just painful to watch). Grisham will be exciting to watch this year as well as he had some great plays too(that double team in the end zone was brutal). Ford has his speed, they just need to get him the ball in the air instead of on the reverse. I think that Clemson established the fact that they could go through the air again though.

- The secondary worried me a little as the one TD that FSU got through the air had a wide open receiver in the middle of the end zone. Where was the safety or coverman? Like I said, Weatherford was pressured all night so I don’t think that the secondary was outright tested. The passes to the outside and the runs to the right yielded some big gains for the ‘Noles, hope those are fixed rather quickly.

- Special Teams, what a turn around. A blocked punt was immediately recognized as failure to block due to miscount by the center which is better than last years “we need to review the tapes” and take three games to figure something out. The safety off a blown snap was better than what was the GT game winner from 3 years ago and shows that the special teams coach is teaching the team to think out every option. The punting game was amazing, the ability of Maners to maneuver the ball as well as he did was great to watch, especially on the punt to the 5 yard line that flirted with the goal line. Now we just have to get the sprinters to look for the ball when they are standing at the other end of the field. Kicking, well lets just say that the extra 5 yards was nothing to Buchholz, he went deep more than once and split the uprights when needed. The only concern was with Jacoby dropping a kick return and luckily recovering it. It may be nerves but we saw that more than once last year, luckily one turned into a 90 yard return for 6 but the alternate is not a pretty thought.

Game Ball: Nick Watkins, amazing night. I think he was in on every play and will have Drew Weatherford waking up in the middle of the night screaming for the rest of the season.

In the end I thought that the Tigers in the first half looked like the team that had been talked about all summer long. If the coaches can get them to go all 60 minutes with the same tenacity instead of dropping off when they are ahead, this team will be a monster to tame. Finish the Job is the motto, they just need to go an entire game living up to it.

Posted on Wednesday, September 5th, 2007 at 9:40 pm by Clem

Filed under Clemson, Florida State, Football.

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