What is Wrong With Clemson's Defense: Not a Damn Thing

Through the first three games of the 2020 season, the Tigers rank sixth in total defense, seventh in scoring defense, 10th in rush defense and 22nd in pass defense. How does this compare to previous years?

There is no doubt that Saturday night was not a good night for the Clemson Tiger defense, as they gave up over 400 yards of total offense to an ACC foe Saturday night for the first time since 2017. 

The outrage over how a Brent Venables-led defense and arguably one of the most talented groups of defenders—young and old—could allow this to happen against an inferior foe like Virginia, who by all accounts is barely good enough to field a varsity football team is real. 

(I hope that you can read the implied sarcasm)

Real-time comments from Clemson "fans" read like an indictment of the program, the defense and Dabo Swinney.

"This is what happens when you focus more on the names on the jersey than the football game", "What the f**k, Brent is the most paid DC in america [sic]????", "We suck!!! Bama would score 100 on us"—were only a handful of the comments on Twitter and Facebook.

So, in response to this year's terrible, awful, embarrassing defense (again, sarcasm), let's compare last year to this year.

The first three games of the 2019 season saw the Tigers face three similar opponents to the 2020 season. The Tigers opened with Georgia Tech (similar to Wake Forest), then faced Texas A&M (similar to Virginia) and Syracuse (similar, or maybe not even as good as The Citadel).

Through the first three games of the 2019 season, the Tigers ranked ninth in total defense. They ranked 10th in scoring defense, ninth in rush defense and 26th in pass defense. 

Through the first three games of the 2020 season, the Tigers rank sixth in total defense, seventh in scoring defense, 10th in rush defense and 22nd in pass defense.

What?

Hang on. Clemson is better in its ranking through three games in 2020 than they were in 2019?

Shocking. 

The problem is the perception that the Tigers are supposed to shut out every opponent. That they are supposed to keep every opponent from crossing the 50-yard line, hold every opponent under 100 yards rushing and create a turnover every time a pass is attempted.

But Venables understands, unlike some of the fanatical fans, that every team has the same number of scholarship players on the field and has very talented athletes that want to beat the Tigers like the Patriots want to cheat.

"They’ve got their experienced line back, really good system too, that's very quarterback-friendly," Venables said. "And a good defense, too. So, you know, take the win and time to go back to work. Got a lot of learning and improving (to do), a lot of guys played spot duty a year ago. They're starting now, and they got a ton of improvement that we need across the board. A lot to love, too. Had three sacks, a bunch of hands-on balls. A year ago we maybe had one sack, maybe one PBU a year ago. Forced two turnovers, and they’re a good team.

"So there were certainly some positives to build from, and our guys were fighting like heck all night. Got a chance to get a bunch of other guys in the game as well. And whether it was a good or bad performance, it's all good because you should learn and grow from it."

The Tigers will "grow from" this win and be better defense next week, the week after that and the week after that.

So, a simple message to the Tiger fans who have a problem beating an ACC opponent by 18 points—at least this was a win, remember CLEM***ING?