It was not a perfect night for No. 1 Clemson in its 52-14 win over Georgia Tech in its opener on Thursday night, but it was pretty good.
Overall, here are Clemson’s grades and then some things the Tigers will want to improve upon in next Saturday’s game against No. 11 Texas A&M.
Quarterbacks: B
- Trevor Lawrence: 13-23, 168 yards, 1 TD, 2INTs; 3-24, 1 TD
- Chase Brice: 5-7, 53, 1 TD; 2-11
- Taisun Phommachanh: 0-0,0; 5-21
Running backs: A
- Travis Etienne 12-207, 3 TD; 1-3
- Lyn-J Dixon 8-65, 1 TD; 1-22
- Chez Mellusi 6-36
- Michel Dukes 7-29, TD
- Rencher 6-21
Wide receivers: A
- Tee Higgins: 4-98, TD
- Justyn Ross: 3-13
- Frank Ladson: 1-21
- Jaelyn Lay: 1-20
- Cornell Powell: 1-13
- Joseph Ngata: 1-12
- C. Chalk: 1-8
Offensive Line: A
- 411 rushing yards, no sacks, 8.4 yards per rush
Defensive Line: A
- Tyler Davis: 4 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL
- J. Henry: 4 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL
- Xavier Thomas: 3 tackles, 1.5 TFL
Linebackers: B
- Isiah Simmons: 10 tackles
- Chad Smith: 6 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 FF
- Baylon Spector: 5 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 RF
- James Skalski: 5 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 0.5 TFL, 1 PBU
Secondary: A
- Denzel Johnson: 5 tackles, I INT
- Tanner Muse: 4 tackles, I INT
- Nolan Turner: 4 tackles, 1 PBU
- Allowed 7-18 passing, 137 yards, 1 TD.
Special Teams: A
- T. Potter: 1-1 FG, 51; 7-7 PATs; 7 kickoffs, 7 TB
- Will Spiers: 3 P, 40.0, 43, 2 IN20, 0 TB
- Joseph Ngata: 2-50, 32
Things Tigers did well:
- Clemson ran for 411 yards and averaged 8.4 yards per rush and 5 rushing touchdowns
- They did not allow a sack and were 6 of 12 on third down conversions
- Held Georgia Tech to 294 yards, including just 137 passing yards
- 2 fourth down stops, one a goal line stand
- 2 sudden change of possession stops
- 4 forced turnovers
Where the Tigers need to improve:
- 3 turnovers
- 2 interceptions
- 2 coverage busts
- Several missed tackles
- Penalties 6-43
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