When 12th-ranked Clemson opens the season on Saturday against Wofford, the Tigers will have nine new starters on defense and nine true or redshirt freshmen who will be playing at some point in the contest.
The Terriers might not be the best opponent for a young and basically inexperienced defense to see in Week 1. Why? Cut blocks.
Like Georgia Tech, Wofford runs a complicated triple-option scheme which has offensive line—legally—cutting down the legs of defensive linemen or linebackers on every play. It’s a scheme that is designed to get in the heads of a defender, and usually it is very successful against inexperienced players.
“That’s what the physiologist is for. I’m not for that,” Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “You have to be fearless and you have to be physical. You can’t play on your heels in this game and be successful. This is a big part of it. You have to attack cut blocks like they are attacking you. You have to attack them back in the same manner with technique and stay aggressive.”
That’s why Venables works on attacking cut blocks in every practice, not just when the Tigers play triple-option teams like Georgia Tech and Wofford.
It’s worked pretty well. Clemson is 2-1 against Georgia Tech under Venables and even in the one loss, his defense held the Yellow Jackets to a season-low in running the football.
“We work on cut blocks every single day, not just this week,” he said. “Whether people run screens or a lot of the spread game, people are trying to mow you down and knock you off your feet. If you are not on your feet you can’t make plays.
“Fundamentally, it is something we do a lot of. Obviously, when you play an option team they put themselves into an adventitious position to cut block you. It’s not like they are announcing, ‘Hey, I’m the guy coming to cut block you.’ They have some different ways with their crack schemes, with their receivers and their backs do a very good job running full speed at you so it is a different tempo than what a lot of traditional teams do.”
The triple option is a difficult scheme to handle, especially a team like Wofford that has been doing it for so long. The Terriers ranked third in the FCS in rushing last year at 297 yards per game, and have ranked in the top 10 in all put two of the last 15 years.
“If we are not on our feet, then we cannot defend them very well. Starting inside out, that’s a big part of this game,” Venables said.
Venables says the first thing they talk about defensively is staying on their feet, and have all 11 players pursuing the ball.
“If they set up a blocking scheme on the perimeter just right, we need pursuit inside-out, and if you are not on your feet you don’t have that pursuit,” he said. “That is day one motivation for our guys.”
Wofford’s idea is to wear the Tigers’ young defenders down and make them not want to be touched by the offensive linemen by late in the third quarter and into the fourth quarter. Venables says his goal is to do the reverse.
“On our side we are hopeful they are tired and are not making the cut block and we are physically bringing it to them as well, and they are tired of getting after it,” he said.