A year ago, Georgia Tech took stealth to Death Valley. Up against tall odds – the Yellow Jackets were 27.5-point underdogs against then-No. 6 Clemson – Tech defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker sprang a new look at the Tigers in the teams’ Sept. 18, 2021 meeting.
“They did a handful of things last year that were different than what we saw on film,” Clemson offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter said last week. “Andrew does a great job. He threw in a wrench last year for us and we had to adjust.”
The Jackets could benefit from similar machinations Monday night, when they play No. 4 Clemson at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in a Chick-fil-A Kickoff game.
Last year, Tech shelved its standard 4-2-5 alignment in favor of a 3-3-5 look that caught the Tigers by surprise. Clemson had some success moving the ball – the Tigers had drives of eight plays or more on five of its first eight possessions – but nothing that resembled the 73-7 blowout that it had administered to Tech the year before.
“Last year, they came in and played a scheme that we had zero preparation for,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said.
Tech held the Tigers to 284 yards of offense, their fewest in an ACC game since Jackets limited them to 190 in 2014. That’s also the last time Clemson took a loss in the series. The Jackets were unable to seize on the opportunity, however. They moved the ball enough to have three drives yield first-and-goal situations, but could only produce six points from them, and Tech lost 14-8 in easily the biggest near miss of coach Geoff Collins’ tenure. It was the Jackets’ best defensive performance of the season, as the 3-3-5 proved increasingly penetrable over the course of the season. Toying around with the secondary, where the Jackets would seem to have more flexibility, could be an option.
Whatever Thacker and Collins have planned for Clemson on Monday night, Swinney vowed the sneak attack of 2021 won’t happen again. A return to the 3-3-5 seems unlikely. One, Clemson wouldn’t be surprised by it. Two, Thacker’s personnel, which includes only two experienced linebackers in Ayinde Eley and Charlie Thomas, might not allow for it. Thacker might have more flexibility to toy around with the secondary, although experience isn’t vast there, either.
“We are prepared for whatever they’re going to do,” Swinney said. “I think we’ve got answers. But certainly that first quarter, settling in and identifying, just like they’ll be doing with us, identifying who you are personnel-wise, what you’re going to hang your hat on, and you go from there.”
As for what Clemson might have in store for Tech’s defense, Jackets linebacker Ayinde Eley wouldn’t be surprised by a run-first approach from Streeter that throws running backs Will Shipley, Kobe Pace and Phil Mafah at Tech. Shipley led Clemson last season as a freshman with 738 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns.
“I can see that happening,” Eley said. “They’ve got three good backs that I would think that they would use, and I feel like that’s a strong part of their confidence. I can definitely see them trying to establish the run and coming out and running the ball to open up the pass.”
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