By William Qualkinbush.

Week two of game preparation has been a bit different for the Clemson defense. Finger-pointing in Athens led to soul-searching and a bit of a wakeup call among the rank and file.

The Tigers unleashed their defensive fury and frustration on an unwitting South Carolina State team en route to a 73-7 victory. Major contributions came from all comers, including a pair of players unavailable to Venables and the Tigers in the season opener.

Saturday marked the return of defensive end Corey Crawford and cornerback Garry Peters to the Clemson lineup. Those two, along with interior offensive lineman David Beasley, sat out the Georgia game for a violation of team rules. The return of those fine defensive players was a pleasant sight for Venables, who saw the strides Crawford and Peters made during the preseason.

“Corey arguably might have been our best D-end in fall camp,” Venables said. “Garry had his best fall camp since I’ve been here.”

Both players impacted the game in a positive way for the Tiger defense. Crawford registered two tackles, including one for loss, and one quarterback pressure. Peters added a tackle for loss as well. Both players provided stability at their respective positions, and they were able to feel the emotion they missed as they sat on the sideline last week.

“I felt like I let my teammates down because I wasn’t out there,” Peters said. “I made the decision that I made. In all, I feel like it made me better as a person and stronger as a man.”

Clemson fans left Memorial Stadium with a pleasing picture of what the full Clemson defense looks like on Saturday. With Crawford and Peters in tow, the Bulldogs mustered only 44 yards in the game—the lowest total allowed by a Clemson defense in more than four decades—and zero offensive points.

“There was no letup from everybody that played,” Crawford said. “Everybody dominated, and we still got our shutout.”

Even in such a dominant performance, Peters knows Venables will not let the Clemson defense rest on its laurels. The memories of a fourth-quarter fade in Athens are still relatively fresh, and even the most dominant performance of the Venables era cannot erase them.

“There’s always room for improvement, especially with Coach Venables,” Peters said with a grin. “He’ll find something for us to improve on.”

Venables enjoys having two of his leaders back in the fold moving forward. He says both players paid a price for an offseason decision they regret, and he applauded their resolve and discipline in preparing to play—even if it came a week later than they wanted.

“I think they were really hungry and really focused,” Venables said. “I think they practiced the right way, although they knew they weren’t going to be playing a week ago. They invested in the process to get to today.”

That investment contributed to a display of defensive might the Clemson faithful may never see again. For Crawford and Peters, it was simply another step in the process of making people forget their transgressions and remember the results of the offseason.