Scouting Clemson ahead of the matchup with Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl

Ohio State will be facing Clemson for the second-straight season in the College Football Playoff. Here’s the Sugar Bowl scouting report.

Clemson is good against the run, but not perfect

Watching Clemson games, it’s hard to diagnose how really good it is against the run. Usually, the offense puts up points and gets the team ahead. This forces teams to become one-dimensional and get away from the run earlier than teams probably want to. However, watching some of the bigger plays against Clemson, the defense can be gashed if the running back is decisive and hits the hole.

A lot of the bigger plays came between the guard and tackle, or tackle and tight end. The way Clemson rushes on the edge sometimes takes it outside and forces the linebackers to fill the gaps. However, with such a blitzing scheme, sometimes the linebacker finds himself out of position or gets picked up on a second level block trying to come across the line.

The defense does a good job flowing along the line to keep outside running plays to a minimum, but as aggressive as the defense is, cutbacks are there. Keeping Clemson within arms reach will allow the running game and RPO game to work well throughout the contest.

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