Clemson’s new look defense, led by new coordinator Tom Allen, is still a work in progress.

After holding LSU to just 17 points in a season-opening loss and then the defense allowing just seven a week later in the comeback win over Troy, the Tigers gave up 24 in a last-second loss to Georgia Tech last weekend.

Dabo Swinney was asked during his weekly press conference on Tuesday how he evaluated his defense through three games, and if players still getting acclimated to a new system were playing a part in some of the issues.

What Swinney wants to see most is his offense finding its groove, which in turn would result in more complementary football.

“We got to get the offense rolling,” Swinney said. “Defensively, I think we are going to be fine. There’s certainly some newness, things they still got to work through. Got to drive the car a little while.”

With some of the issues experienced in the loss to the Yellow Jackets, some have questioned the rotation along the defensive line. Clemson has generally done a lot of rotating up front over the years, and Swinney was quick to remind people of that fact.

“We’ve rotated forever around here,” the head coach said.

“Who do you not want us to play? We are going to play the guys that deserve to play. Can’t play every snap. You got to have a rotation in the D-line. We don’t play anybody that don’t rotate D-linemen. They can’t play every snap. We got to make sure that we develop some depth as we go through the season. That is a very critical position to have some depth.”

Through three games, the Tigers are allowing 338.3 yards per game, with 227.3 of those coming through the air. They’re also allowing 111 rushing yards per contest and 3.2 yards per carry.

While it’s certainly not all been pretty, the numbers already suggest improvement from last season, when the Tigers allowed 4.7 yards per carry, their worst number in years.

Clemson’s biggest issue defensively to this point has been getting off the field. After allowing Georgia Tech to convert 8-of-15 third downs, the unit is allowing opposing offenses to convert 44% of their third-down opportunities. And that is the area in which Swinney says the unit must improve.

“I’m not saying we have dominated people, but it is a long season,” Swinney said. “Where we got to be better defensively is third down. That is where we got to be better. We got to get off the field a little bit more.”

Photo by Bart Boatwright