Clemson defense learning lessons in constant push for best standard

Myles Murphy and the Clemson defensive front had some fun Saturday night against No. 10 NC State.

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Wed Oct 05 07:00:05 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON - The Clemson defense has continued to show some improvements as the season has gone on – despite some setbacks and hard games – and junior Tigers defensive end Myles Murphy gave some insight into that following their strong performance against NC State this past Saturday at home.

Murphy said he was proud of the response from the group after some issues at Wake Forest the previous week.

“The defense kind of needed a game like that to know what it feels like to not have the best game and know what you need to do to prevent that from happening,” Murphy said.

Wake Forest was their most challenging game of the season thus far, giving up a total of 45 points, while only giving up 42 points combined in the first three games. In addition, the defense had six penalties in that game. That aspect of their game did not improve, as they had another five defensive penalties against NC State. There are some aspects that did see gains, however, such as the defense against screens. Murphy specifically referenced the Furman game in Week 2 as a stepping stone for improving that aspect.

“It did catch us off guard a little bit because we didn’t see a lot of screens on film,” Murphy said. “It worked too many times.”

The defensive line has also continued to improve as Clemson had a total of three sacks against NC State. Murphy accounted for 1.5 sacks. The team total is now 11 sacks on the season, while Murphy has three sacks on the year. The increased pressure that the defensive line applied helped to take pressure off of the secondary continuing to learn.

When asked about playing Boston College and watching their film, Murphy said that he’s noticed that Boston College is typically “very run-heavy, [has a] good bit of misdirection, [and a] very accurate quarterback.” Their quarterback, Phil Jurkovec, tends to throw, “short to mid-range throws, [and] throws it overtop every once in a while.”

Boston College actually utilized the passing game more than their rushing game in their last game against Louisville. Jurkovec threw for 304 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. Senior wide receiver Zay Flowers is the top receiver on the team, having 151 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the last game. The Eagles also had an additional 144 rushing yards.

Despite playing their first unranked team since Louisiana Tech back in Week 3, Clemson is not approaching the game any differently. The team approaches every practice with the same amount of intensity no matter who the opponent is, Murphy said.

“We’re playing Clemson every Saturday,” said Murphy, recalling his head coach Dabo Swinney’s words.