Photo by: Craig Bisacre/Texas A&M Athletics
RTIC Cooler Talk: Clemson
Sep 06, 2019 | Football
AM: With Will Johnson and the Hall of Famer, the All-American Dave Elmendorf, I'm Andrew Monaco as the Fightin' Texas Aggies, 12th ranked in the nation, take on the top team in the country, defending national champion Clemson Tigers. It's our chance to break this one down.
During the RTIC Cooler Talk that we did at Memorial Stadium, I brought up the guys with the hands in the dirt, and Jimbo says that because you win in the SEC with guys with the hands in the dirt. Well, to me, this is like an SEC-type match up, Dave. We saw Clemson's front four last year, four guys who are all in the NFL, as talented a front four as there was in college football. They have some guys who were their backups who are now starters. There's some experience, but I just think that the Aggie offensive line against that Clemson defensive line…and the other way around, I think this Aggie defensive line is as good as they were last year…I loved what I saw against Texas State, and I love what I'm going to see on Saturday.
DE: Well, you know what I always say, you win up front. I've said that on the podcast, probably every time we've had it. And I truly believe that, having been one of those guys that wasn't up front and knowing how much as a player in the back end you rely on those guys up front. I didn't play much on the offensive side of the ball, but I did a little bit as a sophomore at A&M, so I know how much you rely on the offensive line as well. You win up front, and you're right. This team, this Aggie team, I think, improved in the defensive line with a little more experience. And the offensive line…we're gonna have to wait and see, I think. They did a good job last week, but we don't know how good that competition was. We certainly know it's going to go up a little a little bit tomorrow, so, we'll see what happens, and that's why we play the games.
AM: It affects so much those fronts for both teams. I love Clemson's back end, and so does Dabo Swinney. That might be the strength of the defense now. But with the four interceptions by the Aggies last week, we talked about that disruption. They got that. That's a back end for the Aggies that's playing with a lot of confidence, isn't it?
DE: I've said this before as well, but I want to reiterate it. The Aggies are going into a situation where they're going to the second year with this scheme, and I think that that the improvement is going to be very obvious. I thought it was last week. They're no longer having to think about what they're supposed to do. They're just reacting to what they see, and that's a huge difference. You talk about reaction times in milliseconds, and so every millisecond that you pick up makes you closer to that interception, closer to that break up, closer to that tackle. And I think the guys are getting it and they're getting better.
AM: You like the interceptions because you like what Roney read, you like how Myles read, you like how Leon read, the play…as opposed to some teams having to gamble to get those turnovers. The Aggies didn't have to do that against Texas State.
DE: Well, the one I really liked was Myles Jones, where he was trailing the receiver on the deep ball and the ball is just a little bit underthrown. But he's got perfect position right in front, where the only way it can be completed if it's an absolutely perfect pass over the receiver's head and he catches it kind of like Jhamon's catch down on the one yard line. That's perfect position, and he was talented enough and sharp enough to know that it was underthrown. He probably was getting some help from his safety, telling him ball, ball, ball. And so he turns around. He picks out the ball, and there it is, an interception. Very impressive, all of them impressive. But that one…I love where he is now. I love how he's developed as a cornerback to where he can get that kind of position. He's got size. He's got length. I really like Myles Jones. And of course, he had two interceptions in that ball game.
AM: On that other side. don't be surprised if Elijah Blades is playing some more. He did an awful lot this week in practice. Will, you get the most unique look from all of us down on the field. You were there last year against Clemson, and you saw that firsthand. You'll be there again tomorrow. The thing that you have told us is there's confidence on this team. What else do you want to see from the Aggies against the Tigers?
WJ: When we podcast we're here to "break it down". But when two good teams face each other, I think it's so hard to break down. You take a match up like any SEC West team, you know they're gonna have a good defensive line, and usually they could exploit an offensive line of another team. But this is just…it's all good players in every position, I don't know if anybody can exploit something on the other side where they just have so much of an advantage. Clemson's got, like you talk about, the great receivers, but the Aggies are better in the secondary. A&M's got great receivers, but Clemson's back end might be one of the tops out there. Then in the trenches, your hands in the dirt, that's gonna be a struggle. I talk a lot about explosiveness a lot about who can make a big play. It's gonna be close. It's gonna be fourth quarter. Who makes the big plays? The Aggies came back on Clemson last year because they started making some big plays, hit some stuff down field, and then the biggest play was actually controversial with the fumble. But…somebody make a play. Somebody make a play. Now, easier said than done, because Clemson's been living on big plays for a long time. You look at their national championship game against Alabama last year and the rhetoric there is that Clemson just blew out Alabama. Well, Clemson got into a lot of bad situations against Alabama, a lot of third and long, and look what they did, just threw the ball downfield. We'll go up, catch it, and sometimes they housed it and it ended up as a touchdown. The Aggies have to make the big play. That A&M secondary? They've got the height. They've got the length. You've got to have the athleticism with it. You've got to go try to out-athlete somebody because I just don't know if either team has some major advantage. Talent wise, because they're both…I don't look at glaring weaknesses on either team. Yeah, Clemson's got a great secondary, but it's not like they're going against a weak A&M receiving corps that can't run routes and can't get open. These guys obviously can. So who high points a 50/50 ball for an interception or catch downfield? Who can make an explosive play? Jimbo Fisher talks about in his system, sometimes he can set things up. You know you can catch an out route for 10 yards and slip a tackle, and it quickly turns into 50. Easier said than done, but you can do it. Be the guy that does it. Whoever makes more, and maybe it's not always the 50-yard play, but it might be a short touchdown. Make a big play. It just feels like whoever makes more of them and whoever makes more late is gonna win the game.
AM: And in those big plays, Jimbo always says, look, they're going to make some. He knows Clemson will. How do you handle it? And when the Aggies make the big play, don't get too high. Go right back, right? That's the key, how you react to those big plays.
DE: We definitely don't want to fail to mention this. Clemson wants to run the football, and they can. The most impressive stat in all of my prep was Travis Etienne with a 17-plus yard-per-carry average running the ball. They can run the football. We're gonna have to take care of that. If he averages 17 yards against us, it's trouble, we're not gonna be able to stop him. I don't think that's gonna happen at all. But they want to run the ball. They do that or the run-pass option, and sometimes those run plays turn into pass plays depending on what we do. And Lawrence is very good at it. But they want to run the ball. I was talking to the coaches and they said that about 80 percent of the huddle calls are gonna be runs. Now some of them obviously going to become pass plays because of the defense, but they want to run it and we want to stop it. And I think whoever wins that battle will win the football game.
WJ: You were right on cue because Mike Elko just walked right behind you here at the team hotel in Greenville, South Carolina. We could just have had you take my headset and we'd get real insight. But Travis Etienne, as far as big plays and explosive, man…he's good and he can do it. He's the one against Georgia Tech last week that tied their school record for a long run. Somebody was asking me, you know, is there a guy, one guy that you're looking at for A&M in this one? You mentioned it earlier on Studio 12 Dave, there's no one guy in this game. It's just a lot of good bodies out there. But I just feel like you've got to do what you can against Travis Etienne. He can't take a pitch and slip a tackle and go 80, and then he can't bust off a few arm tackles and go 20. You can get that explosive gear almost any time if you don't get bodies on him. But a guy, I think that's kind of got to be on top of that…it feels like it's Buddy Johnson. Those linebackers can flow freely because of the good defensive front. I don't know if it's just Buddy, but he's a guy I'm looking at almost saying, you've got to be one of them, right? They can't let Travis Etienne loose.
DE: If you had asked me, that's who I would have said, too. Buddy's in the middle and he's turned into a leader on this defense. He's very talented. I think he's very smart. So yeah, I think we'll look to him tomorrow, to be a big part of that run defense and stopping that run.
AM: We will come to you at 1:30 on Saturday with our CHI St Joseph's pregame show. The kick is at 2:30 along the Texas A&M Football Network. Can't wait to do it tomorrow.
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