Posted by Sam

What exactly is the point of the Spring Game?  It would make more sense if one team had all of the offensive starters and one team had all of the defensive starters so that the game would have the 1st stringers from both sides of the ball playing against each other.  But b/c that would make the game boring once the 2nd stringers came in to play, they have to split the squads up as evenly as possible and that then makes the game no longer resemble what we will be seeing in the Fall.  So, what exactly did we learn from the game?

First off, if you watched the Spring Game then you all probably came away with the same impression of the new offense – meh.  For the most part, the running game was able to move the ball, but the passing game was pretty terrible.  Tajh Boyd couldn’t hit anyone, but when he did, they were able to gain some pretty good chunks of yardage.  Backup Cole Stoudt wasn’t any better, but he can throw a pretty decent long ball and that’s encouraging.

Second, the running game looked great.  There were two guys (Buice and McDowell) who went for 100+ yards and a third (Howard) who came up three yards short of the century mark.  Overall, that’s not too shabby considering the team’s best running back (Ellington) didn’t even play and this past recruiting class’s blue chipper (Bellamy) hasn’t even set foot on campus.

Third, the receivers weren’t exactly good, but when the quarterbacks can’t get them the ball, it’s hard to make a lot of plays to show off their talents.

Fourth, other than the punter the kicking game was the same old story.  They made some long field goals, but missed some easy ones, and they also missed an extra point even if it was the holder’s fault.  Why can’t Clemson find a good field goal kicker, hell, I’d settle for an above average one at this point.

And last, grading the defense is tough to do when the defensive lineman only have to touch the QB for it to counted as a sack and it’s just not that easy in a real game.  Otherwise, Corey Crawford looked great and could contribute right away and Rennie Moore looks like he is going to take over Jarvis Jenkins’s spot on the roster with no problems.  Like I said, I would be able to tell you more about the defense, but it’s tough to accurately judge them in a scrimmage like this.

Overall, I’m not overly excited about the offense at this point, but they have all summer and two crappy non-conference games to work that out before playing a real team this Fall.  Let’s just hope that happens or another losing season might be in the works.

Anyways, here are the final stats for the game:

Individual Statistics

Rushing
Orange: Buice 18-102-1, McDowell 12-100, Boyd 8-43-1 , McElveen 2-11, Craig 1-(-1)
White: Howard 11-97-1, Joseph 2-8-1, Stoudt 5-5, McNeal 9-5

Passing
Orange: Boyd 8-24-114-1-0, McElveen 2-8-28-0-0
White: Stoudt 6-22-118-0-1, McNeal 3-7-33-0-0

Receiving
Orange: Hopkins 4-54, Allen 3-43-1, Traylor 2-26, D. Smith 1-17, McNeal 1-2
White: Jones 3-71, J. Brown 3-59, Ford 1-23, Ogle 1-17, Joseph 1-(-5)

Tackles
Orange: D. Brown 7, Jenkins 5, Shuey 4, Branch 4, Hall 4, Breland 3, Thompson 3, Willard 3
White: Meeks 7, Peters 6, K. Brown 5, Christian 5, Thomas 4, Sensabaugh 4, Hawkins 4

Scoring Summary
Orange – Boyd 10 run (Kick failed), 13:17 lst quarter
Orange – Buice 12 run (Benton Kick), 7:12, lst quarter
White – Howard 1 run (Catanzaro kick), 14:14, 2nd quarter
Orange – Safety, ball batted out of endzone. 6:12, 2nd quarter
Orange – Benton 50 fg, 10:42, 3rd quarter
White – Joseph 1 run (Pass failed), 11:33 4th quarter
Orange – Allen 10 pass from Boyd (Luecke kick), 5:05 4th quarter

“However, sideline cheer-leading still gets an A+.”