College Football Preview - Clemson v. Alabama

Not for the attention-deficit crowd, but if you enjoy the technical side of football, this is a pretty darn good preview of Alabama's defense v. Clemson's offense.

Comments

[Jason]

Matt,

Excellent blog post you linked to. I do wonder though why the second YouTube video is from two games in the 2003 season (vs. USC and Tennessee), when Coach Spence did not arrive at Clemson until the 2005 season?

When he first came to Clemson, Spence used a very paired down playbook, as he was dealing with a senior QB. He had further limitations in 2005 when the QB, Proctor, had a limited range, and today's starter, Cullen Harper had difficulty adjusting to the system to the point that no one thought he would be the starter for long, and that incoming freshman, Willy Korn, would be an immediate better suit to Spence's offense.

I still believe that long term that Korn is the better suit to Spence's offense, because he offers the added function of having a mobile QB. While Harper put up some outstanding numbers this year, nearly equal to BC's Matt Ryan, he got sacked a lot, largely because a lot of his receivers were having difficulty getting open, especially after speedster Jacoby Ford went down.

Starting towards the mid part of last year, and I think you will see a lot more of it, Spence has been functioning a lot more out of two tight end sets. The TE has become more of an over the middle pass threat to Clemson's offense, but the two TE set allows the Davis/ Spiller combo to get open in the flat more, especially Spiller.

On offense Saturday night, I'm wanting to see three things from Clemson:
1. Sound pass protection for Harper from a rebuilt offensive line, who should be more talented, but I wonder about depth on the 2nd and 3rd string.
2. The need for WR Jacoby Ford to take pressure off of deep threat WR Aaron Kelly. Ford is a NCAA level speedster who was out the last half of the year after breaking an ankle vs. Maryland.
3. James Davis/ Spiller rushing for over 200 yards - Clemson has never lost a game rushing for over 200 yards.

Oh yeah, look for more playing time for the full back to really act as a backfield, mobile offensive lineman to spring holes and give Harper more time.

Just my two cents worth, Go Tigers!

[Matt Adair]

Greer - Saturday should be fun. Clemson should win by about five TD but they won't...because they're Clemson and they play down to their competition.

I do think there should be some great matchups - I think Clemson has the edge at QB, RB and WR - and in the secondary. Bama's got the better OL, DL and LB - and I'm really interested to see what kind of wrinkles OC Jim McElwain brings to the table.

A few things to watch from Alabama:
1. Consistency from the QB. Sometimes John Parker Wilson looks like John Elway and sometimes he looks like Sarah Jessica Parker...sometimes in back-to-back series. He's a senior and by all accounts has had a really fantastic spring summer and two-a-days.
2. How do the freshmen adjust to big boy football? There could be up to ten freshmen wearing crimson and white in the Georgia Dome - they need to play really well for Alabama to have a chance.
3. Terrence Cody. 365 pounds clogging up the middle of the line of scrimmage.