Good, Bad and Ugly
By: Neil Burnett
Wow, where do we start? As the title goes, let’s start with the good; Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne, and Amari Rodgers. Lawrence had a good night; not a great night, but a good night. He completed 25 of 38, 329 yards and 3 touchdowns, and adding 36 yards. Etienne showed how dangerous he can be through the air, hauling in 5 passes for 114 yards and a TD reception, adding another 73 yards on 14 carries, and a TD on the ground. Amari Rodgers took in 6 passes for 72 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively, Andrew Booth had a “highlight” interception, going up and snagging a one hand interception in the end zone. Nolan Turner also picked up an interception. Brian Bresee recorded his first sack of the year. To be honest, the defense did not have one of its best nights.
The bad? Where do we begin. The tiger defense gave up 25 first downs, 147 rushing (89 to the quarterback), 270 yards passing and way too many 3rd and 4th down conversions. In all fairness, Clemson was still down two main starters on the defensive line; DE Justin Foster and DT Tyler Davis. Still, that’s no excuse. The tigers are loaded and simply had no answer to the short passing game of Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong. Armstrong completed 24 of 43 passes for 270 yards, 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. He also ran the ball 22 times for 89 yards. The bad part is, he is far from the best quarterback Clemson will see in the coming weeks.
Miami’s D’Eriq King is next up on the schedule. King is on fire and the Clemson defense will definitely have its hands full. The 8th ranked Hurricanes is on a roll and King is the main cog. In 3 wins, he has thrown for 670 yards and 6 touchdowns with 0 interceptions. He has run for 157 yards on 28 rushes and added another touchdown on the ground. Further down the road, Ian Book (Notre Dame), Pitt’s Kenny Pickett, BC’s Phil Jurkovec, all come calling on the tigers.
The ugly? Clemson’s secondary comes to mind. The tiger secondary was tested, and in all honesty, came up with a few big plays to stave off Virginia drives, but at the same time, Armstrong played a LOT of easy pitch and catch with a few of his receivers, especially 6-7 freshman Lavel Davis, Jr, and Billy Kemp IV. Virginia’s offense moved the ball up and down field with little or no resistance for most of the night. There were bright spots here and there. The young Clemson DL was outplayed by the Virginia offensive line which was both big, talented and experienced.
Another ugly aspect of the game was penalties.Virginia had ONE penalty for 15 yards. The tigers had 8 yellow hankies thrown at them, several leading to UVA first downs, keeping drives alive. The also were successful on 4 or 5 4th down conversions, and 6-16 3rd down
The coaching staff has their work cut out for them. Justyn Ross was a big loss. Xavier Thomas was a big loss. Justin Foster and Tyler Davis have seen little or no playing time due to injuries. None of this helps, but the Tigers have to overcome. Miami will challenge, no doubt. Brent Venables has his work cut out for him.
