Clemson football: What we learned in win over S.C. State

The Clemson football team came away with a 49-3 victory over the S.C. State Bulldogs on Saturday to get back in the win column after suffering a season-opening loss to Georgia a week ago in Charlotte.

For the home-opener, the Tigers played in front of more than 70,000 fans for the first time in nearly two years and it was a ton of fun to finally see Death Valley full again and to experience being back.

As we look at Clemson moving forward, here’s a look at three things we learned from the outing against FCS opponent S.C. State.

Three major takeaways from the win over S.C. State for Clemson football

1. The defense is dominant and there’s no doubt about it

It’s just S.C. State and, honestly, this takeaway is nothing new. But, we think it needs to be the first observation that we talk about.

Clemson’s starters held S.C. State to just 12 yards of total offense in the first quarter and if they had played the entire day not looking to build depth, there’s a decent chance they would’ve pitched a shutout.

The Tigers focused on building depth after that first quarter and we saw tons of bodies find playing time throughout the afternoon with the defense. The unit still held the Bulldogs to just three points and the backup defense came away with a stop in the end zone on 4th and goal when S.C. State was trying to score a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

It’s going to be fun to watch all of these guys play together. There’s talent all over the field and, honestly, this might be the deepest defense that we’ve ever seen under Brent Venables watch.

The defensive line is dominant. The defensive backs are fast. And the linebackers are headhunters.

There are going to be times where opposing offenses get the best of this unit, but the truth is that they’re going to give Clemson a chance to win a ton of games.