'Relentless' Pass Rush Determining Factor in Clemson Win Over Florida State

Brent Venables' defensive units have become well known for getting after the quarterback.

In Saturday's 30-20 win over Florida State, Venables defense turned in another masterful performance, limiting the Seminoles to less than 250 yards of total offense and sacking quarterback Jordan Travis six times.

"First and foremost, credit goes to these players," Venables said after the win. "Just being determined, playing with tremendous effort, being physical. Understanding situational football. I thought they did a great job of harassing him."

The defensive coordinator also went on to credit assistants Todd Bates and Lemanski Hall for coming up with the game plan responsible for keeping the dangerous quarterback contained.

"I thought coach Hall and coach Bates did a great job with their game plan and pass-rush plan on how to cage him," Venables said. "It's a very challenging part of the game, playing somebody who's so dynamic, explosive, just incredible speed, athletic ability. Thought they affected him for a good part of the night. We've been a little inconsistent with that during the season, but tonight, just very determined, relentless played with great intensity and passion, and were physical."

While the Tigers have once again fielded one of the best defenses in college football this season, there have been times when Venables' unit has struggled with consistency. Mental mistakes, due to some youth, have plagued the group at times.

However, on Saturday, Venables said he saw a defense that was starting to really gel and grow up in the field, and he is hopeful that leads to more success down the final stretch of the 2021 season.

"I'm all for giving the opponent credit, always, when they deserve it," Venables said. "But not when we're doing boneheaded things and not executing or doing the little things right, the way we've done things around here for a long time. Tonight was much better. Thought they responded to the turnovers and did a fabulous job responding to those, had a fourth-down stop."

"It's maturation, we're playing a lot of young guys too. So it's nice to see that maturation is taking place too. Very incremental at times to maybe to the naked eye. But overall, you know, scratching away and hopefully that kind of improvement where we can have a great November. We're 3-1 in October and have a chance to do a clean slate here in November to have a great story, great finish."

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