Clemson defensive end Shaq Lawson was visibly upset on Saturday when the top-ranked Tigers were unable to shutdown Syracuse’s option attack.
The Orange rushed for a season-high 242 yards on Clemson’s vaunted defense, while averaging 7.1 yards per carry.
“Including myself, up front, a lot of guys were missing their gap fits,” Lawson said. “I feel like we will get that corrected this weekend and stop the run against Wake Forest.”
But does doing it against Wake Forest mean things are fixed? The Demon Deacons rank No. 121 in rushing offense, averaging 111.1 yards per game on the ground. After Saturday’s performance against the ‘Cuse, the Tigers dropped to 25th nationally against the run, yielding 131.2 yards a game.
At one point, the Tigers did rank fifth in the country against the run, giving up 105.4 yards per game. Opponents were averaging just 2.9 yards per carry at the time.
Clemson held Louisville to 0.7 yards per carry, while it held Miami to 1.8 yards. The two teams combined for just 77 yards on 57 carries. That’s an average of 1.4 yards per carry.
But since the Miami game, the Tigers have been gashed in the running game. NC State, Florida State and Syracuse combined for 574 yards and averaged 6.3 yards per carry. In the last three games, the Tigers have surrendered 191.3 yards per game.
Lawson said on Monday he noticed how upset defensive coordinator Brent Venables was following the game and how he was beating himself up.
“He was kind of upset. He knows he is a great coach and he takes pride in his defense,” the defensive end said. “I really know it hurt him. After the game he did not do well.”
Lawson said Syracuse ran a scheme they had not seen, and it caught the Tigers off guard. He feels they can get it fixed and will be prepared for it if someone else tries to run it.
Syracuse’s Zack Mahoney rushed for 76 yards and averaged 7.6 yards per carry. His longest run was 30 yards, while scoring on touchdowns of 10 and 12 yards. But Mahoney was not the only issue on Saturday. Running back George Morris rushed for 80 yards and had a run of 51 yards to set up one of Mahoney’s two touchdowns, while Ervin Phillips had a 28-yard run for a touchdown.
“It was something we had not seen. The play they were running we had not seen it on film lately. We really had problems stopping it at first,” Lawson said.
The Tigers have had problems stopping a lot of people, lately. In the last three games, Clemson has yielded runs of 30, 41, 42, 51, 66 and 75 yards.
Could fatigue be an issue considering the Tigers have had experienced depth issues this year?
“We feel great at this point. I feel great,” Lawson said. “Our bodies are not really hurting us. Depth does not have anything to do with it. We just have to take responsibility, man up and do our jobs.”