Clemson's Defense Geared to Give Alabama's Offense Problems

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It looks like a Southeastern Conference defense.

It’s physical. It aims to shut down the run and go after the quarterback. It’s ranked in the top 20 nationally in all four major defensive statistical categories (total defense, scoring, rushing and passing efficiency) and has been instrumental in leading its team to Jan. 11's College Football Playoff National Championship Game (7:30 p.m., ESPN).

That doesn’t just describe the University of Alabama, considered by most to have the best defense in the nation, but Clemson as well. The biggest difference between them appears to be depth, which might not be a big factor during a game with a lot of long commercial timeouts. 

“We were No. 1 in the country in defense last year, and we had six seniors on that defensive line,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said during a conference call with reporters on Monday. “We had such great depth, experienced depth, and that's what I see with Alabama, a bunch of guys, bunch of seniors and juniors and all those guys are starter types of bodies: big, strong, physical guys, and obviously well-coached.

“But that's the biggest thing that jumps out at you. Most teams that you play don't have the type of depth that Alabama can present.”

Nevertheless, Clemson has standout players with each defensive group—the line, linebackers and secondary—and gets a lot of contributions from numerous starters, as seen during last week’s Orange Bowl.

Category	Alabama	Clemson
Total	2 (256.8)	6 (301.6)
Scoring	1 (13.4)	T16 (20.0)
Rushing	1 (70.8)	18 (124.4)
Passing Eff.	4 (99.47)	6 (104.01)
Sacks	1 (3.57)	8 (3.07)
Third-down	5 (.277)	2 (.257)
Turnovers	T20 (26)	T24 (25)

The Tigers totaled five sacks, nine tackles for a loss, five passes broken up and two interceptions, which looks like a stat line from an Alabama game. In most national categories the Tigers are just behind the Crimson Tide, and they have a defense that could give Alabama a lot of problems Monday.

“Everybody wants to talk about who's left and what you don't have,” Swinney said during his press conference Tuesday. “Sometimes you have addition by subtraction. I mean, I don't get caught up in all that. I worry about who we've got.

"Vic Beasley is the eighth pick in the draft, and ‘Oh, my God, what are we going to do?’ And I'm like, ‘We've got a guy named Shaq Lawson, he's pretty good, we're going to be okay.’ And you go and recruit some of these other guys, that's what makes college football so much fun.

“Yeah, as coaches we were very confident that we had a chance to have a really good football team.”

Although North Carolina State scored 41 points, North Carolina scored 37 and South Carolina scored 32 on Clemson, and although the Tigers have been outscored by opponents in the fourth quarter, 99-90, the unit probably played its best game of the season against Oklahoma.

After trailing 17-16 at halftime, Clemson made the Sooners, who rank No. 22 in the nation in rushing offense, one-dimensional while tallying an edge of 153-36 yards over the final 30 minutes. It also did so without Lawson, as the consensus All-American suffered a sprained knee early in the game.

Quarter	TOP	Rushing	Passing	Third downs
First	9:16	15-34	6-7-0 66	2-3
Second	5:51	5-(-3)	11-16-0 160	1-3
Third	5:35	9-26	4-11-1 33	2-5
Fourth	4:03	4-10	5-9-1 52	0-1

He promises to play against Alabama, but one has to wonder how effective he’ll be, and the Crimson Tide will certainly test him with some sideline-to-sideline plays.

“From what I’ve seen on film, he’s a good pass-rusher with a great motor,” Alabama sophomore left tackle Cam Robinson said about Lawson. “He has a lot of different moves that he uses to get to the quarterback.

“It should be a fun matchup.” 

Lawson and defensive end Kevin Dodd have notched 19.5 of Clemson’s 43 sacks, but only one other player has more than 3.5 (middle linebacker B.J. Goodson, 5.5).

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Essentially every other reserve defensive lineman is an underclassman. True freshman Austin Bryant replaced Lawson against Oklahoma and was one of the guys plugging a hole on the key 4th-and-1 stop in the third quarter, but Alabama will have a chance to specifically game-plan for him.

Meanwhile, the Tigers have senior D.J. Reader and junior Carlos Watkins in the middle, who both weigh 300-plus pounds and got good push in the interior against the Sooners. Goodson leads the team in tackles, while junior linebacker Ben Boulware was an All-ACC selection.

In the secondary, sophomore Mackensie Alexander is considered Clemson’s best cover corner. Oklahoma threw six times in his direction and completed two for 27 yards. It had more success going at junior Cordrea Tankersley, with four completions, including the 42-yard pass in the second quarter.

The Sooners didn’t get too much out their screen passes but did have success splitting zone coverage for four completions before Boulware made an interception in the red zone to help secure the victory.

Clemson’s secondary appears to be more athletic than that of Alabama’s last opponent, Michigan State, but the player to watch is junior Jayron Kearse, a 6’5” safety who received some All-American consideration. He’s the nephew of former Florida standout Jevon Kearse, who was known as “The Freak.”

While Swinney’s staff will attempt to move Kearse into the box to help against Henry, look for Alabama to try to get him in single coverage on freshman wide receiver Calvin Ridley. The strategy obviously worked against Michigan State to the tune of eight catches for 138 yards and two touchdowns, allowing coaches to sort of save Henry for Clemson.

“They just beat you to death with that guy,” Swinney said. “He's a different animal.”

Having the Heisman Trophy winner gives Alabama a lot of confidence, as does knowing it was able to move the ball against every SEC team it faced this season, while Clemson didn’t have as imposing of a schedule.

From a statistical standpoint, the defense Alabama played that is most similar to Clemson’s is probably that of Georgia. The Bulldogs are eighth in total defense and ninth in pass efficiency, but they're better in scoring defense at 16.9 points per game, compared to Clemson's 20.0.

Meanwhile, Clemson’s rushing defense average (124.4) is close to LSU’s 122.9, but those teams didn’t finish the season undefeated.

“This is certainly going to be the most challenging game we've had to this point,” Saban said.

Opponent	Rushing	Pass. Eff.	Total	Scoring
Wofford (FCS)	4	95	4	64
Appalachian State	6	7	26	23
Louisville	64	61	54	65
Notre Dame	28	23	27	34
Georgia Tech	8	95	80	63
Boston College	74	123	125	120
Miami	116	48	67	T71
NC State	31	70	57	42
Florida State	69	34	50	47
Syracuse	77	94	118	77
Wake Forest	122	105	113	119
South Carolina	T87	84	99	110
North Carolina	19	12	18	9
Oklahoma	22	4	7	4

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer. Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.