After getting embarrassed by LSU a week ago, Clemson’s defense came to play Saturday night.
Tom Allen’s unit responded after a dismal season debut and looked much different against Georgia Southern at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium.
Clemson’s D certainly did its part Saturday night, stifling the Eagles throughout and leading the Tigers to a 22-7 victory. Clemson allowed just 266 total yards, 14 first downs and limited Georgia Southern to a single scoring drive.
“We found away to win and for this game, it was special teams and defense,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said afterwards. “At some point, we are going to have to win because of our offense, but tonight we won because of our special teams and because of our defense.”
Clemson (1-1) held the Eagles to just 111 yards of offense and three first downs in the first half. After the run defense was so bad last weekend, the Tigers only allowed 9 yards on the ground in the first half and 22 for the game. The Eagles averaged 1.2 yards per carry.
“We needed to stop the run and needed to play to our strengths,” Swinney said. “Those guys answered the call. They did an awesome job.”
The Eagles (1-1) went 1-for-7 on third down in the first half and 4-for-17 in the contest.
The secondary mostly looked strong, outside of Georgia Southern’s lone touchdown, which came late in the first half. Cornerback Elliot Washington’s safety help was slow to get over on the play, and it resulted in a 42-yard scoring strike from Max Johnson to Ashton Hollins, where Johnson had too much time to throw on the play.
“Elliot and (Ashton Hampton), they stick to people,” Swinney said. “They are sticky. You do not see a ton of separation with those guys.”
Prior to that touchdown, the Tigers forced six consecutive three-and-outs to begin the game. Overall, Clemson forced eight three-and-outs on the 14 possessions.
Clemson posted three sacks and five tackles for loss, with Will Heldt leading the way. The senior edge rusher recorded two sacks and three TFLs while adding a quarterback hurry.
The defense’s performance against Georgia Southern serves as a stark contrast to its putrid showing in the season-opening, 51-10 loss at LSU on Sept. 5, when LSU’s offense did anything and everything it wanted all night while amassing 38 first downs and 644 total yards, including 309 rushing yards.
Against LSU, missed assignments, missed tackles and bad angles plagued Allen’s unit from start to finish. Things were much different against Georgia Southern as the Tigers pretty much completely dominated defensively from start to finish except for one drive, and finished off the game by forcing back-to-back turnovers on downs.
Clemson returns to action next Saturday for its ACC opener at home against North Carolina. Kickoff at Memorial Stadium is set for noon, and the game will be televised on ESPN.
–Jason Priester contributed to this story
