Jason Priester All Clemson
Clemson Defense Rises to Challenge In Tigers Win Over Louisville
CLEMSON, S.C. — After allowing Notre Dame to rush for 263 yards and being dominated at the point of attack, Wes Goodwin challenged his defense to step up and respond.
And Clemson's first-year defensive coordinator thought his group did just that in the No. 10 Tigers (9-1, 7-0) 31-16 win over Louisville (6-4, 3-4).
"That was the huge challenge this week, just wanted to see guys respond, challenge them," Goodwin said after the win. "It's about mindset, mentality, next play mentality. I thought this was an unbelievable week of preparation. Every day it was great energy, great focus, discipline, details."
Coming in, the Cardinals had won four straight games, and five of the past six. Led by dynamic QB Malik Cunningham, Goodwin wanted to see his defense come out with an aggressive mentality.
"I got as much respect for these guys offensively as anybody in the country and they were playing with a lot of confidence," Goodwin said. "Huge challenge coming in, but our guys rose to the challenge tonight. Our message this week was we're gonna attack. Blitz, be aggressive, take the fight to them. Our guys responded, they felt really confident and they were locked in tonight."
However, while Goodwin was pleased with the effort overall, Clemson still allowed the Cardinals to rush for 150 yards, with 62 of those coming in the final quarter. On the day, Louisville rushers averaged 5.0 YPC, as the Tigers allowed four runs of 15 yards or longer.
"We gave up some bad runs at times, third long and stuff like that, but overall I thought our guys really responded, played great run defense," Goodwin said. "We played aggressive, got after folks and I thought it was a really good job by our front seven, especially overall against their run schemes."
Goodwin preached aggressiveness all week in practice following the Tigers' first loss of the season. That aggressive mindset helped the defense record four sacks, seven QB hurries and nine tackles for a loss.
Sophomore Barrett Carter, who moved inside at times in place of the injured Trenton Simpson, was responsible for two of those sacks and 3.5 TFL. He also had an interception and a pass breakup. Carter became the first player nationally to record 3.5 or more TFL, two or more sacks and an interception in a game between two Power-5 teams since 2011 when South Carolina's Melvin Ingram did it against Auburn.
"Even coming out Monday night after the weekend, guys were ready to move on, take the next step," Goodwin said. "They came out with the right mindset. I don't think there was any bend don't break mentality tonight. We were gonna be aggressive coming off the bus, bring the pressure. Probably the most aggressive game I called this year, maybe comparable to the Boston College game. But we're going to take the fight to them."
While still not as consistent as he'd like it to be, Goodwin said the performance against Louisville was the next step in the growth process for the defense, and he's looking for that growth to continue when Miami visits next weekend.
"We're still growing, obviously," Goodwin said. "Just guys continuing to grow in their roles. And every week there's a new offense, a new game plan. Different game plans call for certain guys to be in the game, different looks, different schemes, and our guys are getting more comfortable every week."
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