It didn’t take long for Clemson’s defense to flip the script.
Just seven days earlier, it was a horror show for Wesley Goodwin’s unit as Sam Hartman and Wake Forest’s talented group of wideouts threw up and down Truist Field with little resistance. On Saturday night, the Tigers responded with perhaps their best overall defensive showing of the season.
“I thought our guys played with great effort,” Goodwin said. “It wasn’t perfect at times, but they responded the right way.”
Clemson allowed just 4 yards per play in its 30-20 win over NC State at Memorial Stadium, keeping most of what the Wolfpack did in the passing game in front of it. Wake Forest averaged nearly 17 yards per completion in racking up 45 points a week ago, and NC State quarterback Devin Leary’s start looked eerily similar. He completed 6 of 7 passes on the Wolfpack’s opening drive, which included a 32-yard completion to Devin Carter to get NC State to Clemson’s 7-yard line.
But Clemson held the Wolfpack to 3 net yards on their next three snaps to force a field goal, and it was tough sledding for Leary and company the rest of the way.
The Tigers held NC State to 279 yards with 75 of those coming on a garbage-time touchdown drive in the game’s final minute. Outside of Leary’s connection with Carter on the opening possession and a 24-yard completion early in the fourth quarter to Thayer Thomas, who was on the receiving end of nine of Leary’s 28 completions, the Wolfpack averaged just 3.3 yards on their other 67 snaps.
Clemson settled in after again playing without veteran cornerbacks Sheridan Jones and Malcolm Greene, and Andrew Mukuba, who moved from safety to corner in his return from a dislocated elbow, was ejected early in the second half for targeting. Rush specialist Xavier Thomas also has yet to play this season as he works his way back his preseason foot injury, and star defensive tackle Bryan Bresee was held out with a non-medical issue.
“Just seeing young guys grow, just mature and just rising to the occasion,” Goodwin said. “I saw a lot of fight, a lot of grit, a lot of physicality and relentless effort.”
Goodwin and head coach Dabo Swinney both pinpointed the start of the second half as the tone-setter for the group’s bounceback effort. After Clemson allowed three straight touchdown drives to start the third quarter a week ago, NC State went backward 11 yards on its first three plays of the third quarter and punted on two of its first three possessions of the second half. Clemson also forced both of its turnovers in the final 30 minutes, leading to the Tigers’ last 10 points that gave them their largest lead at 30-13 midway through the fourth quarter.
“I thought the defense won the game in the second half,” Swinney said.
Leary threw 48 passes for a completion rate of just 60%. He and his receiving corps didn’t get much help from a running game that was shut down by the nation’s No. 8 run defense. Jordan Houston was NC State’s leading rusher with just 32 yards as the Tigers held the Wolfpack to a minuscule 1.6 yards per carry.
Their 34 rushing yards as a team were 123 fewer than their season average. Clemson also limited the Wolfpack to 5 of 14 on third down, including just 1 of 7 on third downs of 9 yards or longer.