Great Learning Experience for Young Defense

If there was a negative in last week’s win over Appalachian State, and it really was not that much of a negative considering the circumstance, it was the fact the defense allowed too many points and yards in the second quarter.

Of App State’s 363 total yards last week, 141 of those yards came in the second quarter, including 104 on the ground. The Mountaineers averaged 6.7 yards per play in the second quarter and 10.4 yards per rush and scored 13 points.

“The biggest thing, defensively, is they do not change the standard when you sub,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “Statistically, there were some things we would like to do better, but the guys have to go play and they have to learn from their mistakes and clean up some things.”

The 22 ^nd -ranked Tigers, who were off today, built a 42-0 lead on the Mountaineers before it began its substitutions. Swinney said this past week was a great opportunity to teach off the App State film.

“Defensively, the best part was we played a lot of guys and that will be really good for our development,” he said. “You do not often get the opportunity to play that many guys early in the season, the way we were able to. We were not able to play a lot of guys against Georgia, so it really worked out great.

“Some guys got exposed and some guys showed they were kind of ready for the show. So that is a great opportunity for us teach and, again, develop the team.”

In the first, third and fourth quarters combined, the Mountaineers tallied just 222 yards and averaged 4.5 yards per play. They ran for just 45 yards and averaged just 2.6 yards per carry.

“We played really good pass defense, forty-two percent completion percentage. Thirty-one percent on third down. We created a bunch of turnovers, and we had a bunch of PPUs,” Swinney said. “Then again, we got a chance to see a lot of young guys. We got a chance to see Sammy Brown out there flying around and making some tackles. Avieon [Terrell] led us in PPUs, Stephiylan [Green] was one of our players of the game and really played well.

“There were just a lot of positives.”

The Tigers look to build upon those experiences in the weeks to come, beginning next Saturday (Noon, ABC) when they host NC State in the ACC opener for both schools.