Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables believes his defense is good enough to play with anyone in the country. However, he also believes they just can’t show up an expect to win.
“This is a humbling game,” he said. “We have seen that week in and week out. Just use last weekend as an example. A 5-5 Arizona State team should have run away with it, but Oregon has enough playmakers to make it interesting. That is just one of many examples of the game in which we both play and coach when you are dealing with young people.
“There are good players everywhere and people get hot.”
Venables and a lot of the players on this year’s Clemson defense understand that better than anyone. In last year’s game against South Carolina, the Gamecocks got hot and took it to his top-ranked defense.
Jake Bentley lit up the Tigers, throwing for a school record 510 yards and five touchdowns, the most passing yards ever by an opposing quarterback against Clemson. The five touchdown passes tied a South Carolina record against the Tigers in the series.
“When you lose a little focus and you slop around, you are going to make it real interesting really quick,” Venables said.
Bentley and the South Carolina offense made things interesting for sure against a Clemson defense that prides itself on getting off the field and limiting the opposition as much as it can. The Gamecocks finished the night with 600 total yards, while wide receiver Deebo Samuel caught 10 passes for 210 yards and scored three times.
Clemson ultimately won the game, 56-35, but it was one of the worst games a Clemson defense has played under Brent Venables.
“We did not play well. That never sits well with you,” Venables said. “So, you try to learn from your failures and how you prepare and things of that nature. You are a competitor so stuff like that matters to you.”
Last year’s South Carolina game has sat with the Tigers (11-0, 8-0 ACC) for a year now, and it has been the motivating factor on why they have been so stingy with their pass defense ever since.
The following week they shut down Pitt’s Kenny Pickett in the ACC Championship Game. Notre Dame’s Ian Book was no match for them in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Cotton Bowl and they picked off Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa twice in the national championship game.
“After that (South Carolina) game it was kind of like a wakeup call … You saw just new life in us,” safety Tanner Muse said. “So, it was kind of a humbling motivation. I think you saw the rest worked out for us.”
And it continues to work out to this day. Through the first 11 games this season, the Tigers lead the nation in completions allowed (124), completion percentage defense (47.1) and defensive passing efficiency rating (89.2). They are tied for first nationally in touchdown passes allowed (6).
Clemson is also second nationally in passing yards allowed per game (128.5) and yards per attempt (5.4). The Tigers lead the ACC in interceptions with 13 and rank 12th nationally. They have returned two of those interceptions for touchdowns.
“Their pride was wounded,” Venables said. “Again, we had good leadership respond in the right way and a little more focus afterwards. Human nature is when you feel like you can take one hand off the wheel, but bad things can happen. So, we righted the ship.
“But in that particular week we did not play well. That was humbling for that group. Again, having a group of guys who care a lot about how they perform, you didn’t have to say a whole lot.”
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