Film Review: How Clemson’s pass rush led it to a comeback win against Syracuse
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No. 14 Syracuse entered halftime with an 11-point lead and three touchdowns against No. 5 Clemson. But the Tigers extended their home-winning streak to 38 games. Clemson tacked on 17 points in the fourth quarter while the Orange were held scoreless in the second half.
Syracuse’s offense slowly deteriorated in the final two quarters. Sean Tucker carried the ball a season-low five times. Clemson sacked Shrader just once in the first half, but they pinned him down four times in the second.
Here is how Clemson limited Syracuse’s offense in the second half:
Shrader sacked on SU’s opening drive of the second half
Syracuse began its opening drive of the second half pinned at its 4-yard line. Four plays into the drive, the Orange had only advanced a yard and were faced with a third-and-24 following holding and false start penalties.
Clemson disguised its prevent defense on this play, moving its linebackers up to the line to fake the blitz. Only three players rushed at Shrader after the snap, but Syracuse still struggled to block them as Chris Bleich even looked around for a few seconds before helping out anyone else.
Shrader saw the pocket close just moments after dropping back to his own goal line and he immediately took off to his left. He put his hand on Carlos Vettorello, who was blocking Ruke Orhorhoro. But Vettorello, like the rest of Syracuse’s offensive line, struggled to push his opponent forward and Shrader had to find another path.
Tight end Max Mang had tried to open a hole for him to run through up the middle. But Shrader’s hesitation and movement towards Vettorello took too long. Mang let go of Trenton Simpson, who he had been blocking. Simpson darted at Shrader as Myles Murphy provided more pressure from behind, taking down the quarterback.
All Syracuse had to do was advance the ball. But Shrader didn’t have any time to look for any of his deep options. Instead, he laid on the turf, behind the line of scrimmage.
Clemson D-line rushes Shrader, forces three-and-out
Yes, this play ended in a controversial no-call which could’ve awarded Syracuse an automatic first down. But the Orange were only backed up to this point after a holding call nullified a 19-yard grab by Oronde Gadsden II.
Clemson packed the line of scrimmage, forcing Shrader to throw early. They ran stunts in the middle and left side of the defensive line, forcing the Orange’s offensive line to communicate.
SU successfully halted the stunts in the middle, but Simpson got past Dakota Davis on the left side and Shrader had to escape again. He could’ve threaded a pass to Trebor Peña on a wide-open slant route at the 26, but opted not to because of the pressure. Shrader took off for the sideline and heaved the ball desperately out of bounds downfield.
The downfall
Clemson led by a field goal with nine minutes remaining and Syracuse, on third down, struggled to break midfield. Before the snap, the Tigers’ safeties moved upfield to eliminate a potential short outlet pass or a rush up the middle. Syracuse lined up to orchestrate the latter as Wes Hoeh stood on Shrader’s left.
Not only did Clemson see through Syracuse’s eventual fake to Hoeh, but the failure of this play again came from the breakdown of the offensive line.
On this play, the Orange had all their interior offensive linemen work a gap down, making Davis responsible for Bryan Bresee. Davis barely got a shoulder on Bresee and Bleich couldn’t offer any help inside, allowing him to rocket through the middle.
If Bresse wasn’t there, Murphy and Simpson were right behind as well.
The final straw
Shrader finally got Syracuse’s passing game going again in the final minute. With the clock winding down to the final 20 seconds, Shrader had to go long on Clemson’s 30-yard line. The Tigers kept three lineman staggered across the line.
Prior to the snap, Clemson had three defenders ahead of Gadsden. Everyone knew he was passing there. Shrader looked to his left for his first option before turning his attention back to Gadsden.
Shrader had enough time to hit one of his other receivers, like a wide-open Courtney Jackson in the back right corner of the end zone, but he wanted to hit Gadsden.
After a short pump fake, Shrader rifled the ball at him. Clemson’s R.J Mickens got in front of Gadsden and intercepted the pass to clinch the victory for the Tigers.