By Will Vandervort.
When I went through the national statistics earlier, it was of no surprise, obviously, to see Clemson leading the nation in total defense. I was not surprised to see them ranked No. 3 in scoring defense and I was not surprised to see them ranked No. 5 in rushing defense.
But when I came across the fact that in one of the Power 5 Conferences, in this day and age of PlayStation offenses, Clemson held its opponents to 157.4 passing yards a game, I was stunned.
Let me write that again. The Tigers allowed 157.4 yards a game through the air. That is not supposed to happen in today’s college football, and by the way it ranks second in the country.
Let me tell you why that is so impressive. Washington State averaged 477.7 yards a game throwing the football. Fourteen teams averaged at least 300 yards a game through the air and 18 more teams averaged 275 yards a game through the air.
And it’s not like Clemson did not play any of them, either. Clemson held Florida State’s 14th-ranked passing offense right at its average of 303.3 yards per game. South Carolina, which is ranked 21, was held six yards below its average, while Georgia State, ranked No. 26, was held to 115 passing yards –165 below its season average.
Only North Carolina, ranked No. 28, did damage to the Tigers defense with 394 passing yards. The Tar Heels averaged 278.4 yards per game.
FSU (53.8), Georgia State (39.4) and South Carolina (56.1) failed to complete 57 percent of their passes against the Tigers. In fact, the Tigers allowed opponents to complete just 50 percent of their passes – the lowest completion percentage since the 2000 defense allowed 49.9 percent of its passes to be caught.
But holding teams to 157.4 yards is the fewest passing yards allowed per game since the 1990 squad gave up 148.5 per game and it’s the fourth lowest total since the 1980 season. Only the 1980, ’81 and ’90 defenses have done a better job.
By the way, Clemson led the nation in yards thrown per attempt. Opponents averaged just 5.3 yards per pass attempt – the second best yards per attempt average since 1990. Only the 2008 defense allowed fewer yards per attempt.
Though losing All-ACC corner Garry Peters and safety Robert Smith hurt, the Tigers return five players from this year’s secondary in cornerback Mackensie Alexander, safety Jayron Kearse, safety Jadar Johnson, safety T.J. Green and nickel back Korrin Wiggins. All five players saw significant playing time this past year, while nickel back / safety Travis Blanks will also return from an ACL injury.