Let's face it, Husker fans know next to nothing about Clemson, other than they're orange, they play in the ACC, and they beat us in 1982 to win their only national title. It's hard to get a handle on a team we're playing only the second time in school history, but in the next couple days I'm going to give it the old college try.
The most glaring point about Clemson is their pass defense. They come into the Gator Bowl ranked:
- 9th in the nation at pass efficiency defense
- 9th in scoring defense
- 10th in pass defense
Clemson's defense sounds awesome, like a great match up against a Nebraska offense that will want to get a passing game going. Taking a closer look at Clemson's season tells a different story - that the Tigers didn't face opponents who were capable of throwing the ball
Here's Clemson's 2008 schedule:
Alabama L - 10-34
Citadel (FCS-Div IAA) W - 45-17
N.C. State W - 27-9
South Carolina State (FCS-Div IAA) W 54-0
Maryland L - 20-17
@Wake Forest L - 12-7
Georgia Tech L - 21-17
@Boston College W 27-21
@Florida State L 41-27
Duke W 31-7
Virginia W 13-3
South Carolina W 31-14
Let's look at each team's opponent rankings for total offense and total defense.
| Nebraska - Clemson : Opponent's Positional Rankings |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Offense Rank | Nebraska Opponent | Total Defense Rank | -- | Total Offense Rank | Clemson Opponent | Total Defense Rank |
| 24 | Western Michigan | 83 | -- | 56 | Alabama | 3 |
| 112 | San Jose State | 21 | -- | ## | Citadel (FCS-Div IAA) | ## |
| 63 | New Mexico State | 75 | -- | 89 | NC State | 81 |
| 107 | Virginia Tech | 7 | -- | ## | SC State (FCS-Div IAA) | ## |
| 6 | Missouri | 99 | -- | 76 | Maryland | 59 |
| 4 | Texas Tech | 72 | -- | 101 | Wake Forest | 19 |
| 44 | Iowa State | 111 | -- | 47 | Georgia Tech | 22 |
| 49 | Baylor | 87 | -- | 94 | Boston College | 6 |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 65 | -- | 55 | Florida State | 14 |
| 22 | Kansas | 93 | -- | 102 | Duke | 61 |
| 35 | Kansas State | 117 | -- | 104 | Virginia | 41 |
| 93 | Colorado | 79 | -- | 97 | South Carolina | 12 |
| 46.83 | Average | 75.75 | -- | 82.1 | Average | 31.8 |
Clemson has played against some pretty awful offensive teams all season. They have played against some decent defenses, however. Is this the case of a whole conference being great at defense (the ACC), or is it that ACC teams just suck at offense?
Let's look at another item that may explain the high numbers they have against the pass - opponent's quarterback rankings and efficiency. In this case, the quarterback ranking is by their rating, not by yards per game. Per NCAA stats -To qualify, player must have played in 75% of his team's games and have a minimum of 15.0 pass attempts per game played.
| Quarterback, Opponent | Rating | Nat'l Rank |
| John Parker Wilson, Alabama | 123.81 | 65 |
| Russell Wilson, NC State | 134.29 | 42 |
| Chris Turner, Maryland | 118.74 | 74 |
| Riley Skinner, Wake Forest | 126.18 | 59 |
| Georgia Tech not listed in Top 100 | ## | ## |
| Chris Crane, Boston College | 104.42 | 99 |
| Christian Ponder, Florida State | 113.03 | 89 |
| Thaddeus Lewis, Duke | 122.96 | 67 |
| Marc Verica, Virginia | 110.59 | 92 |
| Chris Smelley, South Carolina | 115.25 | 83 |
Compare to the list of quarterbacks Nebraska faced this season.... the competition is not even close.
| Quarterback, Opponent | Rating | Nat'l Rank |
| Tim Hiller, Western Michigan | 148.43 | 17 |
| Kyle Reed, San Jose State | 122.24 | 69 |
| Chase Holbrook, New Mexico State | 141.31 | 28 |
| VT not listed | ## | ## |
| Chase Daniel, Mizzou | 164.76 | 7 |
| Graham Harrell, Texas Tech | 163.04 | 9 |
| Austen Arnaud, Iowa State | 127.45 | 56 |
| Robert Griffin, Baylor | 142.00 | 27 |
| Sam Bradford, Oklahoma | 186.30 | 1 |
| Todd Reesing, Kansas | 145.65 | 21 |
| Josh Freeman, Kansas State | 136.49 | 34 |
| Cody Hawkins | 118.14 | 77 |
Points:
- Clemson hasn't faced an offense like Nebraska's yet this season. The best offense they faced - Georgia Tech - finished the season ranked dead last in passing, so it's not all that surprising that the Tigers' pass defense is ranked so highly.
- Clemson faced some pretty good defenses, but the efficiency ratings indicate that the ACC sucks at passing.
- Joe Ganz rating is ranked nationally at 14th, with a rating of 156.80. The Tigers faced no one close to Ganz' abilities.
- Clemson's Cullen Harper is ranked 51st, with a rating of 129.26.
- Comments?