Tuesday, September 16, 2003

Worried about our defense at Clemson

You would think after fantastic defensive performances at Auburn and FSU, I would be feeling confident going into Sat's game with Clemson. However, I am worried. The strength of Tech's defense has clearly been stopping the run. Clemson's weakness is the run. They tried running versus Georgia with zero success. They tried again at Furman (to a lesser degree) and had a mediocre game. In their last game, they decided to open up and lead with the passing game. The result - Whitehurst 23/28 with 298 yards passing. And believe it or not Whitehurst is 19th in the country in passing efficiency. Clemson is 38th in passing offense.

So with all that said, stuffing the run against Clemson should not be a challenge. But can we stuff the pass????? Gailey's plan has been stuff the run and force the opposing quarterback to win the game. Will that strategy work if Clemson comes out passing on 1st, 2nd and 3rd down? Maybe I'm being a little dramatic because their last 2 games were against Furman and Middle Tenn. St. But just thinking outloud. Is our secondary as good as our frontline? We are currently ranked 16th in the nation in rushing defense and 61st in the nation in passing defense. What will give? (see statistics)