The Clemson football defense held Texas A&M to just 10 points Saturday. Here’s our overall defensive grades and report card for the match up.
The Clemson football defensive unit certainly showed promise Saturday afternoon.
Though the Tiger defense looked shaky in the first quarter, they played a much more solid game from the second quarter on and the result was giving up just 10 points. Texas A&M kicked a field goal early in the second quarter and didn’t score from there on out until there were less than 10 seconds remaining in the game.
Here’s a look at our grades and report card for the Clemson football defense.
Rushing Defense
After the first quarter, Clemson became the more physical team on both sides of the ball. Defensively, the Tigers limited Texas A&M to just 53 yards rushing on 27 total carries. Jashaun Corbin, who missed part of the game with injury, rushed 13 times for just 34 yards and his counterpart Isaiah Spiller had seven carries for 24 yards.
The Tigers were able to limit the rushing attack of Texas A&M and did a solid job getting to the ball carrier. The one knock, if any, was missed tackles- especially in the backfield and in the open field. There were several times where the Tigers were in position to make a play in the backfield, but missed the tackle.
That would lead to an A&M ball carrier getting back to the line of scrimmage or gaining a couple of yards. It’s a small thing, for sure, but certainly something the unit will be working on as the season progresses.
Grade: A
Passing Defense
After the first quarter, the Tigers pressured Kellen Mond and took advantage of his accuracy issues. The secondary played well and the only passes Mond completed in the middle of the game were when the Tigers would drop back in coverage and allow receivers to sit in the zone.
Mond made a couple of nice throws down the stretch near the sidelines once the game was out of hand, but overall the Tigers shut down that Texas A&M passing attack. The secondary certainly didn’t look like a weakness, despite what Texas A&M players said before the game.
Mond completed 24-of-42 passes for 236 yards and a touchdown. He also had an interception.
Grade: A
Bottom Line
The defense still has plenty to work on. From chemistry to getting pressure with front down linemen to zone and man coverage, it’s clear this unit is going to improve as the season progresses.
The main knock on the defense, though, is the missed tackles. There were just too many missed opportunities to get off the field or put the Aggies in a hole and they just couldn’t make a tackle in the open field. The unit definitely got better in that regard, though, as the game went on and that will be indicative of how they perform this season.
Overall, I thought they played well and have a great foundation to build from as we head into conference play.
Defensive Report Card vs. Texas A&M: A