Clemson's Defense Needs to do These 3 Cs Saturday: Concentrate, Contain, Corral

Clemson's Brent Venables relishes these challenges, and Miami transfer quarterback D'Eriq King certainly presents one. There are some areas the Tigers need to win on defense.

This has not been an easy week on Brent Venables.

The Clemson defensive coordinator has had his hands full trying to grow up some of his young players while also at the same time prepare a game plan for a Miami offense that stresses opponents at all three levels. 

But Venables didn't get into coaching because it's easy. Helping Clemson win two national titles since 2016 wasn't easy. Neither was preparing for Baker Mayfield, Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Fields and Joe Burrow. 

Venables relishes these challenges, and Miami transfer quarterback D'Eriq King certainly presents one. However, the No. 1 Tigers (3-0) have quite a bit of talent on their side. It'll be about lining it up correctly, getting the right calls in and executing tackles in space. 

Clemson's defense needs to do these three Cs to give the Trevor Lawrence and the offense the support they need: concentrate, contain and corral. 

Concentrate

Miami is going to push the tempo at the Tigers, and that's not something most opponents typically want to do against Clemson. After all, if they get you off the field quickly, that gives Lawrence and Travis Etienne more chances at scoring on you. 

But that's not No. 7 Miami (3-0). Under offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, who's in his first year with the Hurricanes, always wants to go fast. Miami is averaging 74.7 plays per game and has run the seventh-most plays in FBS among teams that have played the same number of games. 

They'd like to run more than that, actually, and how they're able to dictate the pace of the game will be a huge factor in the outcome. For the Tigers, it's about making sure they're getting up set up with urgency. 

Venables likes to peruse the field and make calls and changes before the other team can snap the ball. That's going to be difficult to do in this game if the Hurricanes can stay on schedule offensively and be efficient on first and second down. 

That means the Tigers could be in situations where they don't get much help from the sidelines. Think 2017, Clemson's last regular-season loss, when Syracuse kept the secondary and linebackers guessing in coverage and got the ball out quick enough to negate Clemson's stellar pass-rush. 

Clemson defenders have to keep their eyes in the right place pre- and post-snap, or else tight end Brevin Jordan or receiver Mark Pope will get behind the defense for explosive plays. 

Contain

What scheme Venables opts to go with will be determined by two things: what does he think his personnel can handle and what is he willing to give up? 

Nobody runs the ball effectively on Clemson's defense, and this version is stout enough to keep Cam'Ron Harris from putting up huge numbers, but keeping King from scrambling or gashing the defense with designed runs won't easy. He's extremely athletic. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said he this week that King is like a running back once he tucks and runs. 

He's also an accomplished passer, so it's not like the Tigers can sit back in a zone flooded with defensive backs and expect him to not pick them apart if given time. 

One potential alignment that might have some success is to run a 4-2-5. That keeps an allotment of athletic defensive linemen on the field to provide a pass rush or to try and build a containment bubble around King. Think 2017, when Venables made life difficult on Lamar Jackson by taking away his legs and forcing him to throw. 

King is a better passer at this stage of his career than Jackson was, so Clemson might need to bring linebacker James Skalski on blitzes, but disguising when it's coming is crucial. That would leave linebacker Mike Jones Jr. to play from sideline to sideline and cover a ton of ground underneath. It would also put Baylon Spector, who led the team with 13 tackles against Virginia last week, on the sidelines a great deal.  

And then there's the secondary, which could put cornerback Mario Goodrich or safety Joseph Charleston at the nickel spot and let safety Lannden Zanders play a versatile role either near the line of scrimmage or on the back end to help defend the tight ends. 

Bottom line, the Tigers have to get leverage on the outside up front and push from the inside to keep King from doing whatever he wants. Again, what are they willing to give up?

Corral

This one is simple: Tackle better in space than last week, when Clemson whiffed a few times and gave up some yards to Virginia QB Brennan Armstrong. Jones needs to play extremely well in space, and Skalski is going to have to keep Harris and other backs from getting to the next level. 

Clemson's secondary will have the tall task of getting Jordan on the ground and making sure they don't allow yards after the catch to Miami's receivers. 

Most of all, though, they'll need to get King down when they get a hand on him. That's easier said than done with the 5-foot-11, 202-pounder. And while there will be Tigers on the field that haven't ever faced complex offenses like this before, they've got Venables, who's been toiling away in his lab all week. 

If Clemson's executes and makes adjustments, it'll be another feather in the mad scientist's cap against a quality offense.