CLEMSON — Tom Allen believes his Clemson defense has taken great strides in his second year with the program.
Last season, more often than not, the Tigers struggled defensively, particularly on the back end, as teams had very little trouble pushing the ball down the field. The home losses to Duke and SMU are two games that stand out the most.
“It was one of my bigger frustrations a year ago,” Allen said. “Not to be able to be the reason why, defensively, of closing out those games. Closing out those final drives.”
However, this season, things are different. Outside of the blowout loss to LSU to start the campaign, Allen’s defense is greatly improved. During the current three-game winning streak, the defense is allowing just 10 points per game, while also limiting opponents to less than 300 yards of offense per contest.
“It has just happened multiple times this year in the first four games,” Allen added. “We take a ton of pride in that.”
A lot of improvement is centered around the retooled secondary, led by veteran corners Ashton Hampton and Eliott Washington II. Safeties Jerome Carter III, Corey Myrick and Ronan Hanafin have also played a part.
Just last week, the secondary held Cal quarterback Jaron-KeaweSagapolutele to a career-low 119 passing yards. The Bears came in ranked No. 13 in passing offense.
Hampton is currently the only player in the country with three or more pass breakups in multiple games, while Washington has already picked off three passes, including interceptions to seal the wins over UNC and Cal.
Despite just being four games into the season, Allen has seen enough to believe the unit is ahead of last season’s group when it comes to toughness.
“I think when you are a defense that says, ‘ Hey, we want this game put on us,’ and you can say that, and if you don’t follow through, it does not mean anything. You start losing that edge about you. I want it to be, when you reach a certain point in the game, ‘Hey, we got to take this game over.’ Just to be able to put that foot down and close that door on the opposing team is a massive expectation a defense has to have. And I think our guys have stepped up. Our guys are mentally tougher — a physically tougher team than we were a year ago.”
Now comes the defense’s biggest challenge of the season, as the Tigers will welcome No. 4 Miami to Death Valley on Saturday night. The Hurricanes come in averaging 53.5 points and 588.8 yards per game, which both rank in the top 4 nationally.
Quarterback Darian Mensah is passing for 302.8 yards per game, while completing an eye-popping 88.7% of his throws. He’s also yet to throw an interception, and his 14 passing touchdowns lead the nation.
“You’ve got to go out and experience those successes — game-ending plays — to be able to gain that confidence,” Allen said. “I think our guys have built that right now and we need it to continue because we are going to need it big-time on Saturday.”
