Georgia Tech at Clemson, 10/18/08
Dabo’s first game as interim head coach. Four days to prepare after Tommy stepped down. Spence gone, so a whole new page and list of things to do to prepare the offense. Can you imagine the uncertainty, the confusion, the sense of “there is too much to do and not enough time to do it” that pervaded the players and staff? I’ve been involved with management changes at work. It always takes a few days minimum for everyone to stop talking about what happened and focus on the task at hand. So I’m impressed with what Dabo got accomplished. Even though the Tigers lost 21-17, they played with focus and enthusiasm. There were very few game management glitches (unneeded timeouts, delay of game penalties, etc.). There was no dissension on the bench that I saw. I consider that an amazing accomplishment of the players and staff.
But they still lost. Still had a lead in the fourth quarter and managed to let the game slip away. Still showed that the OL is the basic weakness. Still played good defense until the chips were down.
Change a few plays in any 4-point game and the outcome could have been different. Same with this one. The press and fans have highlighted the obvious plays. The holding call on Austin on the play where the Tigers moved 20 yards on 4-12. Allowing Tech to make a first down from 3-14 on its game-winning scoring drive. Allowing the go-ahead TD on a 3-6. Tech fans can point to a few of their own plays that would have made an earlier difference, like the pass right through Thomas’s hands in the endzone. The 3-14 play particularly bothers Clemson fans because we have seen this defense give up the long third-down play too many times this year.
But, in my view, the defense played well enough to win this game. The offense did not. Specifically, Cullen Harper did not. I’ve looked at this game replay, especially the fourth quarter, several times. The thing that always jumps out at me is how many non-pressured passes Harper missed. Don’t get me wrong. Harper played a good game and made several difficult plays, good throws, good scrambles. But there were three passes that were fairly simple throws. If he hits one or two of the three, the drive continues. Who knows what would happen from there. So I put this one on the offense’s shoulders more than the defense’s. But in the end, winning football requires teamwork, picking up your teammates when they are not playing their best. And neither the offense or defense can claim success in that area.
Still, I was impressed. Impressed with the focus, the enthusiasm, the aggressive play-calling (well, except for that hook-and-ladder; but, hey, if it had worked, we’d be joyfully saying, Wow, did you see that—gutsy call.)
The open date comes just in time for this team. To get together, to get healed, to get ready to beat Boston College. Go Tigers!