Brent Venables gets it. He understands what’s at stake this Saturday when No. 3 Clemson takes on 17th-ranked Florida State.
If the Tigers win, they clinch the ACC Atlantic Division Title. A loss and everything could be out of reach … a division championship, an ACC Championship and a spot in the College Football Playoffs.
“I do understand if we win this week then we secure the division title, but what good does that do you if all of sudden you go up to Syracuse and you get waxed by them,” said the Tigers’ defensive coordinator. “There is a process in how you have consistent success, and I just believe in structure, consistency and respect of the game.”
Despite the ramifications that come with Saturday’s game win or lose, players and coaches to a man say they are treating this week no different than any other game they’ve played. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney again said the Florida State game is a big game because it is the next game. Venables reiterated Swinney’s words.
“I believe wholeheartedly, be here now. Take care of now. Control what you can control and everything else takes care of itself. There is no more at stake this week than last week,” he said.
“I have been here and done that many times and I say that very humbly,” Venables continued. “I feel like I did last week. Here is this team, here is what they do. How do you defend it? Then you go put a plan together and you just go to work.”
What’s the plan? To have more respect for the game than the Tigers did last week, at least from a defensive perspective.
Last week, Clemson allowed NC State to score 41 points – the most points allowed in one game since it gave up 45 to Georgia. The Wolfpack also had a lot of explosive plays, such as runs of 41 and 66 yards, and pass plays of 40 and 28.
“I think we slopped around at times last week defensively because I don’t think all of our guys respected the game,” Venables said. “Some of the success that NC State had was because of them. You have to give them credit sometimes, too, but some of the lack of the precision was because I don’t think we necessarily respected the game and the process of how you play at a high level.”
And that process is to prepare as if the next game is always the biggest game.