How Clemson’s defense got its swagger back before dominating Georgia Tech
Clemson players and coaches are adamant that the defensive performance Clemson had at Syracuse is not indicative of the type of unit the Tigers really have.
Brent Venables’ squad certainly looked like a different defense in Clemson’s dominant 24-10 win against Georgia Tech last Saturday.
After surrendering 440 total yards and 27 points in the Carrier Dome, Clemson held the Yellow Jackets to 230 total yards and 10 points. Seven of the 10 points came in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach.
“They recognized the challenge and really just responded, especially after our last outing,” Venables said. “That wasn’t really reflective of who we are. It was good to see that, at least for a week it was an aberration and they got back on track and really played very well. I’m proud of them.”
The bye week was good for Clemson after its worst defensive performance of the season.
The Tigers were fairly dominant through the first six games of the year with only one game being decided by less than two scores.
That changed against Syracuse as Clemson made sloppy and uncharacteristic mistakes. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney challenged his team after the loss.
“It was good to see this team take ownership and get back to work. It’s been a long two weeks,” Swinney said. “This is a very, very young football team… I’m kind of glad we didn’t play the next week… We had to kind of wallow in it a little bit, and that’s what this group needed.”
Defensive end Clelin Ferrell, who has 7.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks on the year, believes that the loss to the Orange could have been a blessing in disguise.
“Looking back on it now, that might have been one of the best things that could have happened to us,” he said. “Now I know how we’re going to rally after some tough-fought games just like that one. It was good to have that experience. A lot of guys on this team, they’ve never lost before. A lot of those freshmen, that was their first loss. So it was good to put that sour taste in their mouth and see how they rally back.”
Clemson also played with noticeably more enthusiasm and energy against the Yellow Jackets than it did in a sluggish performance at Syracuse.
The Tigers wanted to get back to having fun playing football and were dancing throughout the game, including doing the swag surf dance to the popular song “Swag Surfin’.”
“We had to get our swag back. We really didn’t have a lot of energy when we were up in New York that night for whatever reason it was,” defensive end Austin Bryant said. “We really wanted to get back to our roots and what has made us successful in the past, and that’s just 11 guys that care more, care about their teammates, put in the work, bring the effort and intensity, relentlessness. We play how we want to play when we do that, and we had fun doing that Saturday night.”
This story was originally published October 30, 2017 at 5:18 PM with the headline "How Clemson’s defense got its swagger back before dominating Georgia Tech."