ATHENS — Dabo Swinney and his Clemson offense know what they are up against facing a massive defensive front on Saturday night.
The Tigers, Swinney saiid, will just have to work around it — quite literally — when Clemson plays Georgia at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
“Right up the middle, they are about as stout as you can get,” Swinney said, commenting on Georgia defensive linemen Jordan Davis, Devonte Wyatt, Jalen Carter and Travon Walker. “All across the board they are all massive, but that’s what they recruited to.
“They move the pocket, (and) they are incredibly difficult to move even with double teams, I don’t care who they play, Alabama, or whoever.”
Georgia has led the nation in run defense each of the past two years, while the Tigers have struggled to run the ball against quality competition, finishing 11th among ACC teams including subpar results against Ohio State (22 carries, 44 yards) and Notre Dame (33 carries, 34 yards) in their two losses last season.
“The biggest thing is you’ve got to keep them honest, and you’ve got to set the tempo in the trenches, and so when we’re at our best is when we’re balanced and we’ve got to run the football,” Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said.
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“It many not be a traditional handoff that you count as run game. You may need to use some of your outlet screens, your RPO game to supplement in the run game.”
And there it is — the Tigers’ plan to get the ball on the perimeter with a high percentage pass game, challenge Georgia to make tackles in space, and then pick their spots to go downfield and exploit the cornerbacks.
Swinney didn’t become the winningest active coach by being stubborn with his game plans, and he has said that up front about this game.
“I think we got to do whatever we got to do to win the game, If it’s run it 70, or throw it 70, we got to do whatever we’ve got to do,” Swinney said.
“When people are sold out to take one part of your game away, you’ve got to be really effective in the other part,” Swinney said, referring to the emphasis Georgia puts on taking away the opponents’ run game. “Some people committed to certain things, that means they are vulnerable in other areas — if you’re good enough to take advantage of those things.”
Kirby Smart faced Clemson in 2008 while serving as Alabama’s defensive coordinator.
The Tide has met Clemson four times since then, and while Smart was at Georgia when those meetings took place, Alabama plays a very similar defensive scheme to Georgia, giving Smart the ability to get a good read.
“Number one they have great skill players, and when you have good skill players the pressure is always on,” Smart said. “I mean, they have had incredible wideouts as they do this year. They’ve got elite backs that can catch the ball in the backfield. And they have really good tight ends especially this year because they have a veteran group.
“The pressure comes from the players, it is not just the schemes.”
The scheme, as Swinney alluded, will likely be perimeter oriented.
“They’re an attacking offensive group that knows how to get the ball in the perimeter in the run game,” Smart said. “They know how to run the quarterback.
“They build plays so that if you are stopping one thing, they have a compliment off of that same thing. They build their play-action game each week to where their play-action game is married up with their run.”
Both teams come in with a premise, but there will be enough adjustments necessary to factor in the coaching matchup, and Swinney knows it.
“We have to do a great job as coaches in helping them make adjustments and make sure we’ve got adjustments for whatever we see in the game,” Swinney said. “But there’s a lot of unknowns because of their personnel.
“We’ve got guys that they haven’t seen a whole lot of either, and that’s part of what comes with openers like this.”
