When Brent Venables came to Clemson in 2012, no one feared the Tigers’ defense.
The Tigers where a middle of the pack defense at best in the ACC, finishing ninth in the 12-team league after allowing 394.4 yards per game, even worse was the 70 points they allowed to West Virginia in the 2012 Orange Bowl.
In his first year as the new defensive coordinator, Clemson not did improve by much. In fact, the Tigers gave up two more yards per game than it the previous year. However, in the Chick-fil-A Bowl win over LSU, the Tigers lined up and physically shutdown LSU’s powerful running game, holding those Tigers to just 99 yards rushing.