What Happened at Wake Inspired Clemson’s Defense

CLEMSON, S.C. — Myles Murphy feels Clemson’s defensive performance against Wake Forest on Sept. 24 was a good thing.

“I think it was kind of a good and a bad thing,” the Tigers’ defensive lineman said Monday. “The defense kind of needed a game like that to know what it feels like to not have a good game and know what it feels like to prevent that from happening.”

It was that feeling that carried No. 5 Clemson past then No. 10 NC State last Saturday. The Tigers held the Wolfpack to 279 total yards, including 34 on the ground.

State went into its last drive with just 240 total yards. It was a far contrast from the week before when Wake Forest’s Sam Hartman threw for 337 yards and six touchdown passes, though the Tigers won a shootout in double overtime.

“You have do have that short-term memory of forgetting it and going on to the next play,” Murphy said. “And then when that game was over is just remembering the bad and growing upon that to bring it into the next week.”

Clemson (5-0, 3-0 ACC) definitely brought a new sense of defensive energy into the NC State game. The Tigers sacked quarterback Devin Leary three times, while applying pressure all night. When the ‘Pack tried to use Clemson’s aggressiveness against them, much like Furman and Louisiana Tech did, Murphy, K.J. Henry, Tyler Davis and others sniffed out the screen passes and shut them down.

“[Dabo] Swinney says it a lot. You can’t carry over the bad stuff from last week,” Murphy said. “You have to learn from it and grown upon it. You can’t bring the good from last week into this week. So, you have to keep on pushing, growing, watching film, and just going day-by-day.”

Clemson hopes its defense can continue to get better when the Tigers travel to Chesnutt Hill, Mass., to play Boston College on Saturday. The game is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 pm and will be televised on ABC.

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