'Pissed Off' Run Defense Rejuvenated Clemson Tigers in Win

Ahead of the Clemson Tigers’ matchup with Florida State this week, the Seminoles were the top offense in the country, scored over 40 points a contest, and led the ACC in rushing yards.

On Saturday night, Clemson held its opponent to season lows in all three of those statistics en route to its 24-10 victory.

In a season where the Tigers struggled to get stops, saw their defense unable to close down big plays and important third-down conversions, that script was flipped this past weekend, and head coach Dabo Swinney could not be any more overjoyed.

“That was the No. 1 offense in the country coming here,” Swinney said after the game. “Really explosive, really could run the football, one of the top 10 rushing offenses, one of the best scoring offenses, scoring 40 points a game, and so I’m really proud of our defense.”

Linebacker Wade Woodaz said that the unit as a whole did its job completely, additionally recording six sacks on Florida State quarterback Tommy Castellanos to limit his legs. Although some key Seminole drops helped the defense get off the field, Clemson did a great job of limiting the firepower that the team was known for entering the game.

“I think we pressured the quarterback well, six sacks, so I think that had something to do with it,” Woodaz said. “We just focus on doing our job. If we do that, execute at a high level, go to the lead effort, good things happen.”

Cornerback Avieon Terrell says that the goal was to “punch them in the mouth”, which the team did successfully in the win.

“You know, they have very good players, so the key was to punch them in the mouth, do your job,” the junior said.

That type of swagger that was put on display with the unit was something that Swinney enjoyed as the game progressed. As the defense continued to lock down the Seminoles in important movements, that confidence began to shine through, something viewers have been waiting for this team to do since the first week of the season.

“It was a great moment for our team,” Swinney said. “Saw a little bit of swagger from those guys, which was great to see, just love the effort, love the toughness, I love their belief and, you know, just their ‘stick to it-ness’, you know, just their resilience.”

Woodaz says that the team was “pissed off,” taking their anger out on the Florida State offense, which seemed out of sync early.

“We were hungry for a win and pissed off, honestly, had everything going on,” the senior said. “Yeah, showed up, fight, back against the wall and knocking everybody out.”

After games against Syracuse, SMU and Duke, which saw the defense break down on chunk plays, it won Clemson the game against an ACC rival. Swinney will look to see this defensive performance be the identity for the remainder of the season.

“We did a lot of good things and two takeaways,” he said. “We caught a couple breaks, too, you know, with some dropped balls, which we were really fortunate on, but they just hung in there and they battled.”