Virginia Live Review

Fear the Pergola!

Am I the only one that thinks the Tiger Tailgate show sucks now? Back when Russ Cassell ran it, it was great. Learfield has royally fucked it up. I want Love & Hudson back doing Danny Ford impersonations too. I'd make sure to tune in early for a good song and a laugh, but just blows now.

1st Q
I hate purple pants. All white on the road dammit!

Clemson comes out in a base Cover 2 zone package, giving them the underneath passes as usual. The first drive is an example of VK's philosophy of playing soft zone and forcing them to execute to move downfield. They get a couple of first downs and then have to punt because they never threatened the endzone.

1st CU drive: Only highlight was a great catch by Kelly falling out of bounds. The direct snap to Davis on 3rd and a long 1 fails to get the 1st. We cant get one damn yard against this weak-ass DL?

The D eats them up in the backfield and we get the ball on the 2nd drive at midfield, and promptly punt. Harper is benefitting from either fairly good pass blocking or a bad UVA rush. Its like watching a cripple fight up front.

Michael Hamlin gets his 5th pick on a late throw underneath to a slot WR at the UVA 21. Looked like a quick out route. Two plays later CJ Spiller throws a 15yd TD to Grisham, sitting wide open in the endzone, on a HB Option Pass. Good block by Diehl to keep him free long enough to throw it. Spiller has now accounted for a touchdown four different ways in his career. He is the fourth player in Clemson history to do that. He joins Chansi Stuckey, Ray Mathews and Jackie Calvert in achieving that distinction.



Hamlin gets another on an underthrown ball over the middle at midfield, but it gets called back on an Offsides penalty. Ricky Sapp gets hurt on the next play, where it appeared like his cleat gets stuck and his ankle turns over. They hook up a pass over the middle for the first, then the QB hits the RB on a crossing route in the flat, and Byron Maxwell clocks him and Connor recovers the fumble. We got no pressure with the front on that series at all.

2nd Q
A 17 yard pass to Jacoby on his 2nd screen of the game. Could we not throw to him on a Fly route? On a 3rd and long they decide to throw underneath to Grisham to set up the kick instead of throwing to the marker. It did appear like the deeper routes were covered however. Buchholz FG.

VA Drives downfield inside the 10. Chancellor nearly picks off another pass in the endzone in 2nd and Goal, then Jackson gets a big (coverage) sack on 3rd down. Ricky Sapp goes down again on that play. UVA 34yd FG.

On the next drive Clemson gets to midfield, but on 3rd down they throw to Ford over the middle, short, and dont get the first. Still they wont throw to Ford DOWNFIELD. 4th down throw to Palmer is dropped at the 1st down marker.

Clemson's defense forces a 3 & out with great pressure from the down 4, and the UVA QB rushes a throw on 3rd down to a WR wide open at midfield and overthrows him.

On the next drive Harper throws late to Ford on what appeared to be a hitch-n-go and its nearly picked off and returned for a TD. Except for a handful of plays, UVA has not really pressured Cullen in the first half, but the run blocking is lacking. Kelly drops another 1st down 20 yards downfield but CJ bails him out by catching the next one at the sticks. Why are we not forcing them to backup with passes downfield? Cullen actually throws a good deep ball, yet we hardly ever try. He put the pass to Kelly in his hands. Kelly did make a good catch out-of-bounds on the next play. Buchholz is short on the very long FG attempt just before the half.

Halftime:
Clemson is getting good pressure with the front 4, but their QB is making poor throws. Our defense dropped a potential pick-6 and so did theirs. The Hoos havent really tried running the ball, and had no success when they did.

Clemson's line is pass-blocking fairly well, but run-blocking is poor. We get no push. Spiller got essentially nothing in the first half and though Davis did get a few yards, its nothing appreciable. Hopefully we can come out in the 2nd half and run better. Other than that, I don't have a problem with the play calling. Still, our points came off short drives (20 yd play, 36yd drive), with the longest drive being the last one of the 1st half (13 plays, 41 yd).

3rd Q: Again, on a 3rd and long, they throw under to Ford, with 4 blueshirts waiting behind him. THROW DOWNFIELD DAMMIT.

UVA and Clemson trade 3 & outs on the next two drives. Clemson's defense is sitting back in zone and the front 4 is still getting pressure, but they hardly attempt to run the ball. We are able to move on the ground a little better in the 3rd, but our recievers still cannot get open when we need them to, just like GT. Just when Clemson drives into UVA territory, we connect on a 4th down, then Cullen takes his eye off the ball on a Shotgun snap (at the UVA 23) and the ball sails 15-20 yards behind him and UVA recovers. It appears it was AUSTIN AGAIN WHO FUCKED THE SNAP UP.

UVA goes for the jugular and hits a 47yd TD (on FS S. Chambers) on the next play thats called back on a penalty. I wish Clemson would go for the jugular that way. Clemson's defense holds and forces a punt. On the next drive I believe we got shitted on the out-of-bounds catch that was reviewed incorrectly. Drive ends in a punt.

4th Q: Still 10-3.

We have 27 yards on the ground, pitiful. They have 30. Spiller has been non-existent and Davis too. Clemson's defense eats them up on their next drive into Clemson territory.

Clemson goes 3 & out, then on their next drive, after a few good plays, UVA throws a deep ball on a post route to our 40, but C. Butler picks it off in one-on-one coverage and returns it to the UVA 36. Then Clemson starts feeding it to JD, finally. We move downfield to inside the 10, then the staff decides to not run the ball with JD on 3rd down but have Harper take a knee to set the FG? What the fuck? There is 2:30 on the clock, go for the damn TD.

Buchholz FG. 10 play, 30 yard drive after the INT.

After Hamlin nearly picked off a bad Verica pass over the middle, D. McDaniel picks off one over the middle at the UVA 36. It appeared he didnt even see him, as McDaniel didnt have to move. Clemson took a knee.

James Davis had 65 rushing yards and needs 203 to become Clemson’s career leader. Aaron Kelly had 30 receiving yards and needs 99 to become Clemson’s all-time leader. Our defense is still ranked in the Top 20 in Total Defense and Top 10 in Pass Defense. #1 in the ACC. Cedric Peerman got nothing today for UVA.

We were 5/18 on 3rd downs, and had only 56yds on the ground.
We allowed 190 total yards, and had only 192...pathetic.