Venables says unique Wake Forest offense is relentless

Clemson's defense has held up against Wake Forest in recent seasons.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Nov 16 09:00:06 GMT-04:00 2021

CLEMSON – Brent Venables’ Clemson defense has faced some pretty good offenses this season, but he knows that what they will face Saturday afternoon in Death Valley will probably be the best offense they will see this season.

The Tigers (7-3 overall, 5-2 ACC) take on Wake Forest (9-1, 6-0) in a key ACC Atlantic Division matchup at noon Saturday (ESPN) in a game that will go a long way towards deciding the division champ. The Demon Deacons ranked second nationally on scoring offense at 47 points per game and are in the top ten nationally in total offense, averaging right at 500 yards per contest.

The offense is unique in that quarterback Sam Hartman holds the ball out for the running back for an extended period – known as the mesh – while he scans the defense for a hole.

"Yeah, it's different in a lot of respects. The long, slow mesh and they try to put you in conflict probably better than we see all year,” Venables said Monday. “It's very challenging on a lot of levels. The execution and precision, the timeliness and explosiveness of it. It's like playing a triple-option team in a lot of ways. They force you to defend every patch of grass out there, and they go at warp speed. And they can execute at a very high level despite that, so that's abnormal too.

"Sam Hartman is playing as well as anybody in college football. They are averaging over 50 points per game in their last five games. You have a lot of respect for them. He's got a lot of moxie, good instincts, a great presence to him. He understands the offense and really has a good structural understanding of defenses and how they're going to try to attack. He makes a lot of really, really good decisions."

Venables called Hartman, who is fifth nationally in total offense at 349 yards per game, a "baller."

"They've been really good," Venables said. "He's been really good. He's the same guy. He's just really good again. Hey, I'm not trying to be funny, haven't they been good? They were like right there last year. He's more of the same to me. That's what Sam's been. He played in the Shrine Bowl with one of my sons and that's what he did there. He's been a baller for a long time."

The Tigers held Wake to just 13 points last season, but the Tigers were able to put pressure on the Demon Deacons with their own prolific offense scoring points. Given the Clemson offense's struggles this season, that might not be the case this time around.

"The more opportunities they have the ball, the more times they have to score,” Venables said. “You might slow them down here or there, but they are relentless in how they come after you. They are very aggressive in how they attack you. Playing complementary football is what we've done well since we've played them. You have to play well on every patch of grass. Everybody needs to do their job and play with great precision. They have weapons everywhere. They are executing at a high level."