UofL Achilles Heel - 5'-10" slot WR's

[Sultan__of__Swine]

After watching two games I am seeing a trend in the Card's defensive backfield struggling with smaller slot wide receivers.

Against Purdue the Boilermakers had a lot of success targeting their 5'-11" and 185 lb receiver, Jackson Anthrop who had 7 receptions for 82 yards and 2 TD's.

Against UNC, they had a similar type slot receiver, Austin Proehl who is 5'-10" and 185 lbs who lit up the Cards defensive backfield with 8 receptions for 120 yards.

Which leads me to my overriding concern on Saturday.....Clemson's Hunter Renfrow. Just like Jackson and Proehl, Renfrow is 5'-10" and an amazing route runner. If you remember he was the kid who caught the game winning National Championship pass. Given the track record of the past two games, I would expect Renfrow is going to have a monster game against the Cards unless something changes with how Sirmon is defending these slot receivers.

 

[Cue Card]

One minor problem in your thought process. Refrow won't have Watson throwing the ball to him. That's not a slight on the new Clemson QB other than I doubt he is as good as Watson was last year.

 

[Sultan__of__Swine]

One minor problem in your thought process. Refrow won't have Watson throwing the ball to him. That's not a slight on the new Clemson QB other than I doubt he is as good as Watson was last year.

I hear you, but then again neither of Purdue's QB's were anything to brag about. I would argue the QB at Clemson is better than both QB's at Purdue.

 

[Cue Card]

I hear you, but then again neither of Purdue's QB's were anything to brag about. I would argue the QB at Clemson is better than both QB's at Purdue.

Strong argument but Jeff Brohm also had a lot more 'insider' information to work with than Dabo ever will.

Just playing devil's advocate.

 

[BionicTiger]

One minor problem in your thought process. Refrow won't have Watson throwing the ball to him. That's not a slight on the new Clemson QB other than I doubt he is as good as Watson was last year.

Much different QB. Renfrow is always going to be a high volume catch guy because of how he is used. I think the bigger match up issue is the outside receivers for Clemson. The caveat there is that the RT has to do a much better job in pass pro this week to give Bryant the time to make those throws. RT was marginally better than a traffic cone would have been last week.

 

[Cue Card]

Much different QB. Renfrow is always going to be a high volume catch guy because of how he is used. I think the bigger match up issue is the outside receivers for Clemson. The caveat there is that the RT has to do a much better job in pass pro this week to give Bryant the time to make those throws. RT was marginally better than a traffic cone would have been last week.

As always, the O-line is where games are usually won and lost. The play makers can only make plays if the O-line gives them time/good blocking to make them.

 

[fencebusters]

As always, the O-line is where games are usually won and lost. The play makers can only make plays if the O-line gives them time/good blocking to make them.

Renfrow caught 9 passes for 62 and McCloud 6 for 81. Now, those aren't eye popping numbers but it does show Bryant knows where to go with it. You can bet Caldwell is whipping the RT into shape this week. It's going to be a war in the trenches.