I almost decided to post a game reaction/analysis yesterday but decided it was best if gave it some time and calmed down first. So I waited before I posted my thoughts on yesterday's disaster of a day in Atlanta. I woke up this morning and noticed some big bright light shining through my window. It wasn't until I walked over to the window and opened the curtains before I noticed that it was just the sun. It had decided to rise again this morning after all. I have a lot on my mind today and really not sure how to put it all together in a organized matter so I'm just going to say it as it comes to mind. That being said, I need you to bare with me today. I'm going to try to not make this a rant but I love my team and know what we are capable of and I'm disgusted with what took place yesterday. At the moment we have about as many unanswered questions as we did before the Georgia game. I'm going to try to unravel some of my thoughts about the current state of the program and what the future (both in the final weeks of this season and beyond) holds for Clemson football.
First I want to say I'm sorry and feel bad for our defense. They have played their butts off all season long. Without them we would have loss to North Carolina, Louisville, Boston College and probably Syracuse, too. Its frustrating though because even at 7-3 and outside of Saturday's debacle, we are one Deshaun Watson-led series at FSU and a few more in Athens away from being 9-1 or possibly undefeated. While we definitely have had our share of bad luck this year when it comes to injuries,..at the same time you have to always be prepared if you are the next guy in line. You never know what could happen and everyone is always one play away from having a season-ending injury. My heart breaks for Watson but after what is now his third injury since coming to Clemson and fourth in the last year or so I'm starting to worry about his durability. I hope he makes a strong recovery, is able to put on some more weight over the off-season and come back ready to rock and roll and battle for what should be another interesting quarterback competition this off season. (I'll come back to that in a little bit) But you can't help to begin to worry if he can carry the load and stay healthy long enough to reach his full potential while at Clemson. News broke that OL David Beasley is also gone now for the season with an ACL injury suffered Saturday. Zac Books suffered an ACL injury before the Georgia game too and hasn't played a single snap this year. Charone Peake has been banged up all year as well. Its been injury after injury but they are all part of the game. Gotta keep moving forward. While some have began to question the dismissal of Chad Kelly with our struggles at quarterback and how nice it would be to still have him in the mix, I'm not even going to get into that discussion. He's gone. He NEEDED to be gone. Let's move on. Next guy in line.
I'm frustrated with our offense and coaching staff. When Watson is out of the picture our offense goes from a high tempo explosive unit to a middle school C-team level squad with just a few plays and an offense that simply isn't working. At all. When Watson went down Saturday the entire offense and confidence of this team (at least offensively) went with him to the locker room. You can only ask so much from our defense. For as much as we are paying Chad Morris you'd think by now he would have come up with some type of solution to this problem and find ways to make Stoudt effective but we continue to be a stalling offense every week. We have way too much talent at the key positions to be scoring 6 points against Georgia Tech...I don't care who is the quarterback. I understand Stoudt isn't 100% healthy but beyond that he's just making incredibly bad decisions with the football time after time. His mind isn't injured or impaired (as far as I know) its his shoulder. I refuse to believe even a healthy Cole Stoudt was "that" much better than Watson heading into the UGA game. There's just no way. Stoudt looked good for the first half of the Georgia game but really hasn't done anything impressive since then. He's grinded out wins for us the past few weeks in Watson's absence but like I said, without our defense all of those games likely would have resulted in a loss. Two pick sixes on the road (one of which should have been a touchdown for the Tigers had he made the right decision) is simply unacceptable from a senior quarterback. He has to do better and make better decisions with the football, especially in the red zone on the road. Point. Blank. Period. He's lost all confidence and at this point, I don't know what can be done (if anything) to gain that back.
We are now down to our third string quarterback in Nick Schuessler. He will likely get the start Saturday against Georgia State but your guess is as good as mine as to what the offense will look like this weekend or who will start the following week against South Carolina. With Watson at the helm it looked as though Clemson would surely get back on track and end the streak this season at home against the Gamecocks but all of the sudden that game is looking like it will be an all-out dog fight and the first team to 17-21ish points probably wins. So what do we do now? With two games left on the season, the ACC Championship and Orange Bowl are both off the list of possibilities and while we can still end the season on a good note and have a 10 win season, something is going to have to change. First off more Wayne Gallman is a good start. He's running well as of late although we have to find a way to get him some solid blocking up front. Next we need to get more short quick passes to get the ball out of the hands of Schuessler and not try to go down field as much as it simply hasn't been there all too often for us this year. Taking the pressure off of him as much as possible will be key. He was thrown into the fire Saturday without having practiced for Tech during the week yet still went 4-4 for 20 yards and made some solid passes. We are a much different offense this year compared to last season regardless of what the coaches say or lead us to believe. Its obvious that we will have to depend on and lean on our defense if we are to finish this year on a positive note because our offense is simply not getting the job. And I know we can't put it all on Stoudt or any single individual...but you can't score 6 points and turn the ball over three times and expect to beat anyone.
There is good news, though. Help is on the way. While our defense will lose some of its key components we have good depth and will still be solid on the defensive side of the ball next season. Most importantly, we have some big names coming to help out the offense. At quarterback not only will Watson be back but we will also have two freshmen in them mix including Kelly Bryant (pictured) from nearby Wren High School as well as Tucker Israel from Florida and both are 4 Stars recruits. In addition, there is some solid help coming to the offensive line in OT Mitch Hyatt (5 Star), OT Noah Green, Jake Fruhmorgen OT Zach Giella (all 4 Stars) coming in with the 2015 class. Deon Cain and Ray Ray McCloud are also Tigertown bound and look to continue the great tradition of Clemson wideouts from Florida. Both are 4 stars as well and should see the field early and often.
This season isn't over and the goal of beating South Carolina in two weeks and ending the streak is still on the table but the Tigers are going to have to dig deep and have a full team effort to make it happen. Winning that game will be the difference in how this season will be graded and remembered. While you can't install a completely new offensive scheme in two weeks and expect it to be effective Chad Morris has to dial up something that can make this offense at least able to put up a few touchdowns per game. I'm not asking for 40 points but are a few touchdowns that much to ask for? Lastly its time for us as fans to rally behind this team and make the most of the finals two home games. While I can see how attendance numbers might not be that great for a 3:30 kick against Georgia State we absolutely have to come out and be as loud as humanly possible when the Gamecocks come to town and pack out the valley. I predicted us to go 9-3 earlier this summer and while I would have never thought we would have gotten there in the manner that we have, finishing with 9 wins regular season and 10 wins overall with a bowl win seems very much obtainable and would make this a good year given the key players we lost from last year. Looking forward to the next two games and hoping Schuessler is ready to lead this team and close out what has been a roller coaster of a season here in Tigertown. Times such as these make moments like winning the Orange Bowl that much sweeter. Can't truly enjoy the good times without having endured the bad as well. Go Tigers and I'll CU next week back in Death Valley!
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