Clemson vs. Pitt Film Review: 2nd Quarter

Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty ImagesClemson beat a clearly over matched Pitt team to win the ACC championship game for the fourth consecutive year. While neither team was able to pass particularly well on a rainy Charlotte night the Tigers ability to run the ball made the difference. Pitt’s corners held up well on the outside, which isn’t the most surprising thing to anyone familiar with Narduzzi’s old MSU defenses. When they were really shutting teams down Narduzzi was able to take two and three star corners and get them playing like four and five stars. Having corners who can, for the most part, handle the outside receivers on their own frees up the safeties and linebackers to aggressively play the run. This works fantastically until you run into an NFL caliber passing game. The Tigers have the talent and ability to pass like that but they didn’t look like it Saturday. Instead the offensive line was able to push around the Panthers front as the Clemson averaged 8.6 YPC. On the other side of the ball a one-dimensional Pitt offense was able to create some big plays due to secondary busts but wasn’t able to keep fooling Clemson thanks to no show from the passing game. Kenny Pickett, it’s all uphill from here.

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