While Clemson’s offense racked up 376 yards and scored five touchdowns in Saturday’s 35-12 victory over Furman at Death Valley, the Tigers’ defense wasn’t as dominant as people are accustomed to seeing.
Clemson’s defense has set a lofty standard with its normally superb play, but the unit didn’t meet that standard at times during Saturday’s home opener against an FCS opponent.
Although the Tigers only allowed one touchdown and a pair of field goals, Furman’s offense carved up the opposing defense at points during the game en route to 384 total yards, including 214 yards in the first two quarters.
Overall, Furman passed for 256 yards, averaged 8.5 yards per completion, 3.7 yards per carry, 5.2 yards per play, posted 19 first downs and went better than 50 percent (10-of-18) on third downs.
To put those statistics in perspective, in the season opener against Georgia Tech, Clemson’s defense yielded just 237 yards, 13 first downs and held the Yellow Jackets to a 2-of-16 clip on third downs. Tech averaged just 4.5 yards per completion, 2.5 yards per carry and 3.6 yards per play.
Clemson’s defense did force a couple of turnovers against Furman, one on a forced fumble by Malcolm Greene that was recovered by Fred Davis and another on an interception by Barrett Carter. The Tigers notched a couple of sacks and nine tackles for loss.
And although Furman found the end zone on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Huff to Ryan Miller late in the first half, Clemson’s defense stood strong toward the end of the game to prevent the Paladins from reaching paydirt for a second time.
Following a muffed punt by Will Taylor that was recovered by Furman, the Paladins took over at Clemson’s 45-yard line with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter. After advancing the ball to the 1-yard line, on the 11th play of the drive, Furman’s Dominic Roberto was tackled by Justin Mascoll for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-goal for a turnover on downs.
The Tigers will look to clean things up defensively ahead of next Saturday’s matchup against Louisiana Tech at Death Valley (8 p.m., ACC Network).
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