Current Head Coach
“You’re never going to be a great program if you lose a game and your season’s over and you act like the world’s coming to an end; like none of the other games matter. That’s a bad attitude and you’re probably going to live a miserable life.” – Dabo Swinney pic.twitter.com/sliKtEcoq1
— Eric Stephenson (@E_Stephenson_) December 23, 2019
Dabo Swinney – 129-30 overall (.811)
Clemson Offensive Style
Like most teams these days, Clemson will employ a spread attack. And similar to Ohio State, the Tigers will run the power-read option out of it as well with the running game. However, this is a balanced squad that can do some significant damage through the air as well.
The Tigers will look to exploit matchups on the outside with quick bubble screens and slants, but will also take advantage of one-on-one read matchups down the seam for big gains. And with the athletes Clemson has, it’ll read the defense and find a mismatch often with an up-temp style that puts a lot of pressure on the defense.
It’s a hard one to stop consistently.
Clemson Defensive Style
The defense has always been aggressive with defensive coordinator Brent Venables calling the shots. Most years, you’d see Clemson line up in a 4-3 defense and use blitz packages out of it on all downs. This year however, things are a little different because of what Venables has identified as the strength of this team, the back seven.
So now, instead of seeing four down-lineman, the Tigers utilize just three down-lineman with a couple of linebackers and six so-called defensive backs. From there, it’ll line up Butkus Award winner Isaiah Simmons all over the field. He might drop back in coverage, come off the edge on a blitz, or come up in run support. It’s a defense that will keep you off-balance and is difficult to read.
It’s a high-risk, high-reward unit and you have to know that some negative plays will happen.