1) My biggest concern is the offensive line. I knew Clemson's Dline would be good, but we consistently got whipped up front. You have to give Venables props for mixing up the looks and how he brought pressure. The late INT was purely putting his player in the right place at the right time.
2) Our offense did OK, but we didn't see much moving the pocket and using Murray's legs to extend plays, like we kept hearing in camp. It sure would have neutralized some of that pass rush, right?
3) Our defense will be OK. We made young guy tackling mistakes, but overall we were mostly in a position to make plays. When we get JHC back and have those freshmen get more reps, all of that should get better.
4) What was with our near pathological need to punch that TD in through power plays? We played right into Clemson's strengths by going middle dives inside the 5 there. I like the FB dive, but on first down when the whole playbook is open. If we never run that counter draw again, it'll be too soon.
While I'm very disappointed in the outcome, there are plenty of positives to take away. I'll get to those later, but wanted to throw out that I'm not despondent about the season.
TD
