By Will Vandervort.
When Brent Venables watched Boston College run to the tune of 452 yards against Southern Cal on Sept. 13, he did not think it was impressive, instead he thought it was “demoralizing.”
“That gives you a sick feeling when you watch that,” Clemson’s defensive coordinator said on Tuesday inside the WestZone of Memorial Stadium. “I know what kind of players (Southern Cal) has and how they are coached. That just goes to show you.
“I’m sure (head coach Steve Addazio) built Southern Cal and their defense up to them and Boston College more than rose to the challenge. They looked at that as a great opportunity to make a statement and they certainly did. I stopped counting after 500 yards, what did they rush for?”
It wasn’t exactly 500 yards, but as mentioned above, it was close.
The most impressive thing about the Eagles’ 452 yards that night against what was the No. 9 team in the country is the fact Southern Cal has allowed only 451 rushing yards in their five other games. That computes to a 90.2 yards per game average.
“That is never fun to see or exciting to see – it is very demoralizing. In some households Coach (Chad) Morris is over there loving it, DVRing it and rewinding it, while I’m turning it to something else,” Venables joked.
The Tigers (4-2, 3-1 ACC) will try and slow down Boston College’s ACC-leading 315.7 yards per game on the ground. Not an easy task, even for a team that ranks 11th in the country against the run.
“You have to win at the point of attack when it all comes down to it,” defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said. “They have a good quarterback and he is a type of guy we have not seen since I have been here.”
That guy is Tyler Murphy, a transfer from Florida. He is averaging 118.5 yards per game on the ground, which ranks second in the ACC and 12th in the country overall.
“The heart of their offensive team this year is their quarterback,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “He is a very impressive player. To put that in perceptive, he has 711 yards in six ball games and if he stays on track he will set the single-season rushing mark for a quarterback in NCAA history.
“He has been impressive and he has been impressive every week.”
In last week’s 30-14 victory over NC State, Murphy rushed for 132 yards and scored two touchdowns, while also completing 12 of 19 passes for 101 yards and another score.
“They have thrown in a few new wrinkles with him in regards to the read-option and a couple of other options so we are going to have to play disciplined and play physical. But at the end of the day, we have to win at the point of attack,” Jarrett said.
That is something really no one has done to this point with the exception of Pittsburgh in Week 2. The Panthers held BC (4-2, 1-1) to a season-low 142 yards on 34 carries. Murphy rushed for 92 yards and scored a touchdown, but he was just 10 of 28 throwing the ball with two interceptions in the 30-20 loss.
“This is going to be a tough and physical game,” Venables said. “We are going to have to play with great discipline and we have a great challenge with their quarterback. They are very good.”
And what they have been able to has been demoralizing to defensive coordinators so far this year.