Venables and the Incredible Hulk

CLEMSON–What Clemson defensive coordinator has been able to accomplish this season has been nothing short of a miracle.

The world wanted to talk about who was gone. In doing so, Swinney and the Clemson staff said the world missed who was still here. Clemson did lose five defensive linemen — Clelin Ferrell, Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence, Austin Bryant and Albert Huggins — to the NFL after 2018, but Swinney has pointed out that Clemson’s 2019 defense has statistically outperformed Clemson’s top-ranked scoring defense from 2018 despite the departure of whom he called “the freakazoids up front.”

Despite their absence, the defense’s performance under Defensive Coordinator Brent Venables in 2019 has been historic and in some cases unprecedented. The Tigers opened the season by keeping each of their first 12 opponents to fewer than 300 yards, marking the first time in ESPN Stats & Info searchable data going back to 1996 that a team had held the first 12 opponents of a season under that mark.

Clemson has not surrendered more than 20 points since the 2018 regular season finale and has now held 16 consecutive opponents to 20 or fewer points. A defensive streak of that length had not occurred at Clemson in 79 years, when Hall of Fame coaches Jess Neely and Frank Howard combined for a 31-game streak across the 1937-40 seasons.

Venables has led Clemson to at least a share of the national lead in points allowed per game (10.6, first), pass yards allowed per game (138.5, first), total yards allowed per game (244.7, first), opponent first downs per game (12.4, first), opponent completions (170, first), opponent passer rating (92.81, first), opponent completion percentage (50.3, tied for first) and opponent yards per pass attempt (5.3, tied for first).

However, if there is one thing that the Tiger fans, and, worse yet, opponents have yet to see is the transformation that Venables makes when bowl season comes around. And much like Bruce Banner turns into the Incredible Hulk when the going gets tough, Venables undergoes a transformation of his own.

"I remember the first playoff game I was a part of in 2016, the Fiesta Bowl, that was the first time I saw Coach V in bowl game mode," linebacker James Skalski said. "I mean, he turns into a different animal. He is running, screaming, getting in our faces more than normal. It scared me a little in 2016, but now I love it."

The transformation of Venables is one that the freshmen have been warned about.

"I have been told that Coach V goes from intense to whatever is bigger than intense," freshman defensive lineman Tyler Davis said. "I mean, he is an intense coach anyways, but I have heard that once we get to the bowl site he takes it up another level. But I'm not worried about it, I am excited to see it."

But even though Venables turns into a different animal come bowl season, for the Tigers it is a part of what makes him the coach that he is. The Tigers understand that his intensity and passion is just him wanting to get the best out of them because he understands what it takes to achieve their ultimate goal.

"I wouldn't want him to ever change," Skalski said. "I mean, I love that he is so intense because it shows us that he cares and wants to see us achieve everything that is possible. I would never want him to stop being intense because the more intense he gets, the better we play."