Why LSU could set more offensive records Monday night

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If you’ve seen my Clemson offense and defense breakdown videos, this is the final video in that series I guess you can call it, my game preview and prediction.

Here’s two things I think are important to watch out for, and could factor into LSU breaking more records:

1- Clemson having to ask LBers and Safeties to defend our offense sideline to sideline. The one I want to really focus on is when you get a LB matched up on Clyde, or even Chase/Jefferson the few times they may line up on the backfield. If Clemson expects their backers to run sideline to sideline, Clyde could be in for a big game receiving wise out of the backfield.

This may result in them having to bring Isaiah Simmons into the Rover spot, and this is important for two reasons. First being he hasn’t done that a whole lot recently, he’s been playing mostly in the slot or at safety, so asking him to do something different than what he’s become accustomed to could minimize his impact a bit, though if anyone can do it it’s him. If they do what they’ve done all season, they won’t replace Simmons in the secondary with a corner, they’ll replace him with a safety, which is matchup heaven for LSU.

2- The size of Clemson’s DL and LSU’s OL. In my Clemson defensive breakdown video I noted that they were near the top (if not #1) in pretty much every defensive statistic. The one they weren’t was stuff rate, they were 15th which is still good, but it’s not the #1 or #3 they are in everything else. To dive in deeper, they’re 31st in stuff rate which means they aren’t getting great penetration. If you’re familiar with Clemson’s matchup with Ohio St, you’ll know OSU went for almost 200 on the ground and RB JK Dobbins went for 9+ ypc.

Anyway back to the size of the lines. LSU’s OL weighs in at a pretty impressive 323 lbs on average, the Clemson DL weighs in at 278 on average. A 45 lb difference. I went back and looked at the size of some other DL’s LSU has faced this season, notably Bama, Auburn, Georgia, and Florida. All of them were around 300 each, except for Florida who averaged out at just 275. Now if you remember back to that night, LSU pushed around Florida on the ground. LSU went for 200+, 9 or 10 ypc, they just did whatever they wanted. Can LSU’s OL just exert their will and maul the Clemson DL the same way they did to Florida?