Why every position group on Clemson’s defense deserves credit for 11 sacks

Clemson tied for the second most sacks in school history with 11 Saturday night against Auburn, but the defensive front doesn’t deserve all of the credit for the historic performance.

Clemson’s defensive line had seven sacks, linebackers had four, and the secondary also deserves credit for forcing Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham to hold the ball longer than he wanted to.

“I thought we complimented each other, both the front end and the back end,” Tigers defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “Our secondary was terrific against a bunch of good receivers and a really good quarterback. We played with so much passion and energy and physical toughness, mental toughness.”

The performance was a combination of all of the position groups working together.

The defensive line owned the line of scrimmage, the linebackers did a nice job in coverage and when asked to blitz, and the secondary blanketed Auburn’s receivers, even with starting safety Van Smith out for the game and cornerback Marcus Edmond being injured in the first quarter.

Austin Bryant was credited with 4 sacks, while Dorian O’Daniel and Christian Wilkins each had 1.5. Tre Lamar, Clelin Ferrell and J.D. Davis had 1, and Dexter Lawrence and Kendall Joseph had .5 a sack. But in reality Clemson’s entire defense was responsible for those numbers.

“There were several coverage sacks where (Stidham) wasn’t comfortable letting the ball go and the pressure was able to get there,” Tigers coach Dabo Swinney said.

This story was originally published September 11, 2017 at 10:20 AM with the headline "Why every position group on Clemson’s defense deserves credit for 11 sacks."