If there was a negative in last week’s win over Appalachian State, and it really was not that much of a negative considering the circumstance, it was the fact the defense allowed too many points and yards in the second quarter.
Of App State’s 363 total yards last week, 141 of those yards came in the second quarter, including 104 on the ground. The Mountaineers averaged 6.7 yards per play in the second quarter and 10.4 yards per rush and scored 13 points.
“The biggest thing, defensively, is they do not change the standard when you sub,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “Statistically, there were some things we would like to do better, but the guys have to go play and they have to learn from their mistakes and clean up some things.”
The 22 nd -ranked Tigers, who were off today, built a 42-0 lead on the Mountaineers before it began its substitutions. Swinney said this past week was a great opportunity to teach off the App State film.
“Defensively, the best part was we played a lot of guys and that will be really good for our development,” he said. “You do not often get the opportunity to play that many guys early in the season, the way we were able to. We were not able to play a lot of guys against Georgia, so it really worked out great.