It was a fun Saturday night in Joe Aillet Stadium on Saturday night. Explosive run plays! Deep shots on passing plays! Punts that went longer than 40 yards! It seemed like everything was clicking offensively against Stephen F Austin.
This week though, with #5 Clemson on the schedule, it’s unlikely that the Bulldogs will be able to build off of that momentum. The Tigers so far have blown Georgia Tech and Furman out of the water, winning both games by at least three scores.
But interestingly, Clemson has been unable to keep their opponents from completing passes:
You always have to take early season stats with a grain of salt, but allowing an FCS team like Furman to complete 30 of their 39 pass attempts is not good if you’re a team with College Football Playoff aspirations.
It should be no surprise to say that Tech has struggled to complete the ball this year. Season opener starter Matthew Downing has only completed 55% of his passes, and Parker McNeil (the assumed starter against Clemson) has connected on just 53%.
So will we see more completed passes from Tech’s offense this week? Maybe. But there’s a trade-off:
Clemson’s pass defense will give up short passes if it means preventing the long ones. The quick slant to Griffin Hebert (and subsequent long run) that seems to become a weekly tradition? The Tiger defense will probably not let that happen.
And that’s how Clemson has allowed a 70% completion percentage while also only giving up 11 points per game. The Tigers just don’t allow big plays. Well, that and one other thing:
If Tech finds itself driving into Clemson territory, getting the ball into the endzone won’t be easy. The Tiger defense has made an art of coming together when their backs are against the wall.
The Bulldogs still have a lot to figure out in 2022, and having Clemson on the schedule does the team no favors (other than a nice paycheck). Even the things that look like weaknesses of this Clemson team are secretly strengths.
But if Tech can string together some completions, it can build some quarterback-receiver chemistry that the team can bring into South Alabama and the conference schedule.
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Nathan is also a contributor to gtpdd.dog, a lighthearted Louisiana Tech blog. Be sure to check out @gotechplsdntdie on Twitter.
