Clemson Football: Tigers defense thriving despite lack of takeaways

Clemson football has been dominating opponents on the defensive side of the ball. The Tigers are holding opponents to just 15 on the year, despite their inability to create turnovers.

Since taking over as defensive coordinator in 2012, Brent Venables has transformed Clemson into a defensive powerhouse. The Tigers consistently rank among the nations best in every statistical category. More importantly, their elite defense has helped engineer two straight National Championship appearances.

Most elite defenses do two things especially well: limit points and create turnovers. Clemson has kept opponents out of the endzone thus far, but, they rank 89th in takeaways with just 12 on the season.

Will turnovers come back to bite Clemson?

The Tigers were able to win the National Championship in 2016, despite being in the negative in turnover margin. Most teams would not be able to survive such carelessness with the football. It took spectacular plays from Deshaun Watson throughout the season to keep Clemson above water.

If the season ended today, Clemson would have their least amount of takeaways in Brent Venables six years with the program, by a wide margin. While the Tigers are currently ranked 2nd in the College Football Playoff poll, their issues in the turnover department will inevitably cause problems down the road.

Opponents such as Miami, Alabama and Oklahoma are simply too good to defeat when losing the turnover battle. This season, Clemson has not produced the explosive plays we are accustomed to seeing because of their run-heavy offense. As such, possessions are at a premium. The Tigers must limit the opponents, while maximizing their own.

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Clemson’s lack of turnovers surely doesn’t stem from a lack of talent. Brent Venables orchestrates one of the most talent laden groups in the country. It boils down to this defense continuing to cause confusion for opposing quarterbacks, with the hope that they will make a bad decision with the ball.