Maryland review

Again, Saturday showed why I don't spend much time predicting. I doubt anyone would have predicted 100 points would be put on the board. When Maryland plays Clemson in basketball there probably won't be that many points on the board. At halftime I still felt secure about the Tigers ability to come back. Then when the Tigers went down 38 to 24 late in the 3rd I didn't think we would stop them enough to make a come back. Wasn't too worried about the offense, but the D gave no inkling of getting a stop. But they made enough. Within nine minutes the Tigers went from down 11 with the ball on their own 30 to up 4. Then they added two more touchdowns in the next seven minutes. Pretty explosive bunch.

Somebody made a comment that Sammy had a great game when you forget about his kick return to the 30. I sure as heck didn't forget about that. With a team that looked totally unready to play and a defense playing awful AND a QB looking terrible I remember that kick return very well. If Tahj had to start that drive on his own 20 he may have continued to pee all over himself, but with the great field position he was able to loosen up a little and Clemson was able to score using mostly Ellington. The kick return was bigger than the one he housed in the second half. In the second half the Tigers probably score either way.

As much as Chad Morris seems to be a brilliant OC, it was still frustrating early on in the game. After the first drive of 10 rushes for 90 yards and only one pass for five yards, he starts the second drive with an ugly Boyd incompletion and a 22 yard run by Ellington. What would you do next? Three straight incompletions. Maryland's d line was awful. Run it down their throat. Next drive: 4 yard run followed by pick 6. I had no faith in Tahj at that point, but he came back and looked great in the second half.

Tigernet gives us these little tidbits:
*This was the second greatest comeback in Clemson history and just the second time in history that the Tigers have overcome an 18-point or more deficit. Clemson overcame a 28-0 deficit to defeat Virginia 29-28 in Charlottesville on Oct. 10, 1992.

*Clemson also overcame a 14-point deficit against Auburn. This 2011 team is the only team in Clemson history to overcome two deficits of 14 points or more in a season.

Very resillient bunch. Had to overcome early turnovers. The defense not showing up. Sadly, that effort against a better opponent would have ended in a butt whipping. Being a second half team is good, but you can't just play awful for a half. Hopefully, the Tigers put two halves together against UNC.