Wofford rushed for 272 yards on 57 carries. It threw for 127 more on two completions – a 61-yard pass to set a touchdown and a 66-yard scoring pass.
The Terriers finished the day with 399 yards and scored 27 points against a team a Clemson team that eventually went onto win the ACC Championship. That was in 2011.
In 2012, Clemson brought Brent Venables from Oklahoma to be its new defensive coordinator. And he did not have to wait until 2015 to hear about the Terriers.
“I heard about it as soon as I got here,” he said on Tuesday. “Then I asked, ‘Why do we play them?’ We don’t have to so why do we play them? I got three or four ideas if anyone is looking for them, about teams to play, but nobody has yet to ask me.”
It’s obvious no one did. The 12th-ranked Tigers kick off the 2015 season this Saturday at Death Valley against Wofford.
“I have been warned,” Venables said. “I understand why after watching them. They create a whole other set of problems.”
The Terriers, who went 6-5 under veteran head coach Mike Ayers a season ago, are not exactly the kind of team Venables wants to kick off a season with when he has to replace nine starters from last year’s defense, including six of his front seven players.
“I know the head coach is very involved offensively and this is what he kind of does. It’s his MO,” Venables said. “They have answers to big, fast guys. They are really going to challenge all of our guys, particularly are young guys. We are trying to teach our young guys not to try and do too much, and to do your job for sixty minutes.
“It is exciting, though, because of that challenge. They have you on edge and it is exciting to watch your guys go out and compete.”
Ayers’ offense at Wofford runs a true triple-option very similar to the one Georgia Tech runs under Paul Johnson.
“You will see some similarities and some differences, but I think the end result is the same … dive, quarterback, alley and pitch,” Venables said. “They probably throw the ball in some ways more conventional than Georgia Tech.”
Speaking of Georgia Tech, who Clemson will host on Oct. 10, the Yellow Jackets barely survived the Terriers last season in Atlanta. The final score was 38-19, but the score was much closer than that. Octavius Harden’s four-yard run with 9:49 to play in the game, pulled Wofford within five points, 24-19, at the time.
“By nature of what they do, the Coastal Division Champ was Georgia Tech last year, and it is 24-19 deep into the fourth quarter,” Venables said. “That was the same Georgia Tech team that kicked our butts. That’s what I saw from Wofford from last year’s video.”
Wofford rushed for 271 yards against the Yellow Jackets in that game, and keep in mind they run the triple option as well.
“They really take advantage of the mistakes that you make and force you to play with great precision and discipline for sixty minutes,” Venables said.
“It’s exciting for the challenge and we will need to play really, really well defensively to give ourselves a chance to win.”
And maybe next time someone will come to Venables and ask him if they should play Wofford before scheduling the game. He’s answer will surely be, no.