Venables lauds Tigers' success against tempo offense

Venables said his defense has had success against tempo in the past.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Sep 07 08:00:05 GMT-04:00 2021

CLEMSON – Clemson’s defense responded in a big way to Georgia’s attempts at running tempo Saturday, and coordinator Brent Venables said people shouldn’t be surprised – his defense has played extremely well against tempo in the past.

Clemson’s defense held Georgia to just 256 total yards and three points in the 10-3 loss, and the Bulldogs were stymied from the get-go.

"We were really physical and played with good positioning and handled adjustments, tempo, management of the game. Played good team defense. Thought we played with good discipline,” Venables said. “Those things were positive. Would like to be a little better on third down and create more disruption, but we gave up some of the disruptions you get when you're aggressive or overly aggressive in your play-calling. The first game of the year, we don't know exactly what we're going to get. And thought our guys managed the game plan from that standpoint.

"Think Georgia might have had 21 completions and 18 of those 21 were eight yards or less, the throw. They were 2-of-10 on throws of nine yards or more, so our guys did a really nice job when the ball was pushed down the field. (Georgia) had it on schedule to call a few shots, but we were in a great position. We were on top of the route so they went elsewhere with the football.”

The Tigers shut down Georgia’s early attempts at tempo.

"We always work on it. We have played plenty of teams that huddle and line up quick,” Venables said. “Notre Dame in the ACC Championship. Pittsburgh was no-huddle, they go fast the whole time. We played pretty good there. Didn't do it well versus Ohio State last year. Did it pretty good versus Georgia; they did a lot of movement and shifting before the ball is snapped, tempo. I think we are on the plus-side of handling tempo well by and large. We've had weak moments. People go no-huddle and they tempo across the country and in the NFL now. The teams that can manage it on offense typically do well, but if you can get lined up and do the little things right pre-snap, then post-snap takes care of itself. We have had plenty of teams try the sugar huddle (huddling and then running up the line and snapping the ball quickly).

“We've had teams that go with the wristband. We've had plenty of warts and moments we haven't been great but we've had a hell of a lot more dominated-the-wristband team and dominated-the-tempo team. That's we always say every game is a life of its own. You go back to the Fiesta Bowl when we shut out Ohio State 31-0, they tried tempo from the jump and tried tempo a lot. Our guys got lined up and defended well.”

Much of Clemson’s success Saturday came from the play of backups like Ruke Orhorhoro, Tré Williams, and Andrew Mukuba.

"Proud of the guys that stepped up. Obviously, Ruke got his first start and really played well under the circumstances,” Venables said. “Something to really build off of. Andrew Mukuba would have started had Nolan Turner been healthy. Nolan would have been on the other side in all likelihood. Mukuba has done that since he's been here this spring."

He then said that Mukuba, a true freshman safety, is remarkable in many ways.

“He’s easy to pull for, such a remarkable young guy. First and foremost, he kind of epitomizes what we want our program to be about and getting our players to think the right way and have the kind of perspective and thankfulness and see the positive as opposed to the negative, and let anything he's gone through bad growing up or seen family members go through, that he's allowed that to fuel him and develop him instead of destroying or defining him,” Venables said. “From the very first conversation I remember having with him, he knew so much about Clemson. Like what we're really about, not the winning but everything else. And bragged on how big of a (Clemson) fan his brother, Vincent, was. He's like the father figure of the family and was advising him on schools to look at. At the end of the day, we got Andrew because of his own familiarity and doing his own homework about us. But what a great fit.”