S.C. State Head Coach on Facing Clemson: 'We Gotta Chance to Get a Tiger By the Tail'
For the first time since 2014, Clemson will try and rebound from a season-opening loss.
After falling 10-3 to No. 2 Georgia in Charlotte on Saturday night, No. 6 Clemson now heads home to face FCS opponent S.C. State. The Tigers will be looking to improve to 5-0 all-time against the Bulldogs, and S.C. State head coach Buddy Pough told the media earlier this week that his team is expecting to see an extra-motivated Clemson squad on Saturday.
"We gotta chance to get a tiger by the tail," Pough said. "They say if a dog chases a car and he messes around and catches it, well what happens if you catch a Tiger? Especially one that's been riled up by another Bulldog a week or so ago."
Georgia was able to hold Clemson's high-powered offense to less than 200 total yards and sacked quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei seven times, and due to the disappointing performance, Pough is fully expecting the Tigers to come out aggressive on Saturday.
"The fact that they want to really put on a big-time show this week because of the fact that they played so poorly this past weekend," Pough said. "And I don't know whether they played poorly or if Georgia was really that good on defense. The more I look at Georgia defensively, boy those guys were mad. I thought they had a magnificent scheme. I thought they did some things I'm sure coming into the season that Clemson was not prepared for."
S.C. State is also coming off of a loss, with the Bulldogs losing a heartbreaker 42-41 to Alabama A&M, and while Pough knows his team faces an uphill battle against this talented Clemson team, he is still looking for his defense to play more aggressively this week.
"Gang tackle, I like to see them run to the ball," Pough said. "I'd like to see them get guys down on the ground after they've actually made a play, as opposed to, we had balls caught for five yards and being run for another 15 yards. And you know that's a deadly combination that can be really detrimental to the overall process."
However, even more concerning than facing a motivated offense, it's the Clemson defense that has Pough the most concerned when his team travels to Death Valley on Saturday.
"These guys might be just in kind of a murderous doggone kinda thought process," Pough said. "Talking about a situation that's volatile. So, it concerns you. But I would have really liked for them to have won on Saturday, or to at least have played well. Clemson's defense is real, real, real good and it's a bunch of 'em. I mean you're talking about a two deep that's as good as any two deep anywhere. So, you know, it concerns you."
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