Clemson’s defense is coming off an uncharacteristic performance against Florida State, one in which the Tigers allowed the most rushing yards they’ve given up in nearly a full calendar year.
FSU rushed for 206 yards in pushing the Tigers to the brink last week in Clemson’s 34-28 road win. It was strange to see considering Clemson was yielding fewer than 63 yards per game on the ground coming in and has owned one of the nation’s top 10 run defenses the last two years running. Not since Louisville piled up 223 rushing yards on Nov. 6 of last year – a string of 10 straight games – had a team reached the 200-yard mark against the Tigers before last week.
Clemson (7-0, 5-0) will try to make that a one-off Saturday when Syracuse (6-0, 3-0) visits Memorial Stadium for a matchup of ranked unbeatens, but that will be easier said than done considering the personnel the Orange have to work with. Leading the charge for the ACC’s fifth-ranked rushing attack is All-American running back Sean Tucker.
“They’re really, really dangerous if they can get the run game going,” Swinney said. “This No. 34 is a true All-American. He’s the best we’ve seen.”
Tucker burst onto the scene last season, setting Syracuse’s single-season rushing record in just his second year with the program (1,496 yards). The Maxwell and Doak Walker award semifinalist is the ACC’s second-leading rusher through the first half of this season and has averaged 165 rushing yards the previous two weeks. The 5-foot-10, 200-pounder is average 5.2 yards per carry.
“He’s the best back we’ll probably see this year,” said Nick Eason, who’s in his first season coordinating Clemson’s run defense. “He does a lot of really good things. Has great vision. Can break tackles. They run him outside, they run him inside, and he can catch it out of the backfield. So it’s going to be a huge challenge for us this week.”
Clemson can’t forget about quarterback Garrett Shrader either. Shrader has been vastly improved as a passer in his second season as the starter, raising his completing percentage from the lowest in the ACC a season ago to a 69% clip so far this season. But Shrader is still one of the league’s more dangerous running threats at the position.
Shrader is the Orange’s second-leading rusher (300 yards) and has combined with Tucker for 11 rushing touchdowns. Swinney and his players know as well as anybody that the Tigers will have to be prepared to match the physicality the 6-4, 225-pounder brings in the running game.
“You better make sure you’re bringing it and that you have the right mindset or he might try to run you over instead of actually going out of bounds,” linebacker Jeremiah Trotter said.
Clemson got an up-close look at both players in last year’s meeting at the Carrier Dome. The Tigers eliminated Shrader from the equation (6 net yards on seven carries), but Tucker racked up 157 yards on 22 carries in Clemson’s 17-14 escape, the most the Tigers allowed to a running back all of last season.
Relatively speaking, Tucker has been contained by the Power Five defenses he’s gone up against so far this season. He’s averaging just 75 yards against such teams with the 100 yards he had against Louisville to start the season the most he’s rushed for to this point against Power Five competition.
Clemson will also have to keep tabs on Tucker coming out of the backfield as part of the route tree in the passing game. Only receiver Oronde Gadsden has more receptions for the Orange than Tucker (23), who’s averaging 8.6 yards per reception.
But the Tigers’ primary order of business against Tucker is clogging his running lanes and getting him to the ground when they do, something Clemson struggled with against FSU last week. Swinney said he charted 24 missed tackles by his defense, which needs to get shored up in a hurry if the Tigers hope to bounce back from last week and take away the focal point of Syracuse’s offense.
“We’re going to have to play some really good football and get back to those details, and we’ve got to do a good job of swarming the ball,” Eason said.
Photo courtesy of Mark Konezny/USA TODAY Sports
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