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Clemson quarterback and potential No. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence had his worst outing of the season on Saturday against Syracuse. The Orange dropped their third consecutive game to No. 1 Clemson, 47-21, but hung with the Tigers for three quarters.

SU forced Lawrence into one interception and his worst completion percentage of 2020.

“We could have done a lot of things better, but they were pretty much blitzing us every snap,” Lawrence said after the game.

Here’s a look at what defensive coordinator Tony White and Syracuse did to confuse the potential Heisman winner.

A taste of what was to come

On the second play of the game, Lawrence lined up in the shotgun in a five-wide receiver set with no running back beside him. Syracuse appeared to be in zone first, but the linebackers quickly jumped to the line of scrimmage, showing blitz. Lawrence audibles out of their designed play to a short throw designed to beat the pass rush.

But the blitz was a disguise and linebacker Geoff Cantin-Arku dropped back into coverage from his position on the line-of-scrimmage. Wide receiver Frank Ladson Jr. is hit before he can catch the ball as it falls incomplete.

Syracuse disguises zone coverage and blitzes three

On the second drive of the game, SU faced a third down and long. The Orange placed two linebackers outside of their three defensive lineman, clearly showing a two-man blitz. But Mikel Jones, initially lined up as a linebacker zone coverage, sprinted toward the line of scrimmage, adding another body the Tigers had to block..

Clemson picked up the blitz well, but it forced Lawrence out of the pocket as linebacker Steve Linton pushed away his blocker. Lawrence sprinted toward the sideline and had to throw the ball short of the first down line, handing the ball back to Syracuse.

Another third down, another blitz with man coverage

White relied on his cornerbacks’ physicality and speed to limit wide receivers Amari Rodgers and Cornell Powell. On this third down and 10, he felt comfortable blitzing three linebackers again as Ifeatu Melifonwu lined up on top of Ladson Jr. Josh Black and McKinley Williams played as a spy over the middle, preventing Lawrence from dashing up the middle but still drawing blockers away from the pass rushers.

Ladson ran a crossing route from left to right but Melifonwu ran stride for stride with him. As the pocket collapsed, Lawrence had no time and had to fire it into tight coverage. The ball hit Ladson’s hands and fell to the turf, forcing Clemson to punt.

The Garrett Williams pick six

This time, Syracuse disguised their look once again as they appeared with four pass rushers and two linebackers. The Orange played cover three, instead of the usual man-to-man. Freshman Ben LaBrosse straddled the sideline and cornerback Garrett Williams bailed deep. This left a gap in coverage for Rodgers. He positioned himself around the 30-yard line with neither LaBrosse nor Williams near him.

Since freshman Rob Hanna was sprinting over the middle, Lawrence tried to fire it into Rodgers’ back shoulder. But Hanna’s presence forced him to misfire and it bounced off Rodgers’ outstretched gloves and toward Williams. The quarterback-turned-cornerback dashed into the end zone for Lawrence’s first pick six of his college career, and only his second interception of the season.

Published on October 26, 2020 at 10:14 pm

Contact Adam: adhillma@syr.edu | @_adamhillman