1.Clemson scored more points against Alabama than they did us. Alabama did not defend Clemson and their QB any better than we did. So perhaps our D, with Walker and Evans may have put our D pretty close to the two teams that played last night, and may have kept us more in the game.
2. Clemson shut down Alabama's run game in the second half, just like they did against us, and Alabama had their top gun (Henry) for the entire game and we got our top guns (Perine and Mixon) hurt in the second half.
3. Alabama made second half offensive adjustments to compensate for the complete inability to run. They created confusion in their passing alignments, pass patterns and exploiting the tight end. We did not make adjustments to our passing game in the second half when we had no running game. Screens and over the middle routes, and more use of Andrews over the middle on quick hits may have given us the lift we needed and kept them from blitzing their middle backers every play, which killed our running game and put Baker in scramble mode almost every play.
4. Alabama was able to adjust their offensive strategy in the second half because their O-Line was strong enough to allow them to do so. We were unable to allow Baker time to throw in the second half because our O-line was not as talented as Alabama's and not experienced enough to pick up their slants and blitzes.
5. Clemson's secondary made big time mistakes against Alabama, but for some reason, were glued to our receivers.
6. Alabama's special teams, punting distance/hang time, kick-off returns and on side kick provided them a real edge, and may have been the difference in the end. We, on the other hand, never created an edge or any advantages with our special teams. Clemson had better special teams (aggressive) than we did.
7. Net, net, with Walker/Evans on D, a little more talent and experience on the OL, and some aggressive special teams play, we can play with these teams. Riley will need to make better adjustments against better teams, and he will do so with experience.
2. Clemson shut down Alabama's run game in the second half, just like they did against us, and Alabama had their top gun (Henry) for the entire game and we got our top guns (Perine and Mixon) hurt in the second half.
3. Alabama made second half offensive adjustments to compensate for the complete inability to run. They created confusion in their passing alignments, pass patterns and exploiting the tight end. We did not make adjustments to our passing game in the second half when we had no running game. Screens and over the middle routes, and more use of Andrews over the middle on quick hits may have given us the lift we needed and kept them from blitzing their middle backers every play, which killed our running game and put Baker in scramble mode almost every play.
4. Alabama was able to adjust their offensive strategy in the second half because their O-Line was strong enough to allow them to do so. We were unable to allow Baker time to throw in the second half because our O-line was not as talented as Alabama's and not experienced enough to pick up their slants and blitzes.
5. Clemson's secondary made big time mistakes against Alabama, but for some reason, were glued to our receivers.
6. Alabama's special teams, punting distance/hang time, kick-off returns and on side kick provided them a real edge, and may have been the difference in the end. We, on the other hand, never created an edge or any advantages with our special teams. Clemson had better special teams (aggressive) than we did.
7. Net, net, with Walker/Evans on D, a little more talent and experience on the OL, and some aggressive special teams play, we can play with these teams. Riley will need to make better adjustments against better teams, and he will do so with experience.
