Clemson D: 2018 vs 2019 sacks

I firmly Believe your only chance to beat LSU if you can get serious pressure with 3-4 pass rushers.

Clemson lost 5/5 of their best DL to the draft last year including 3 first rounders.

2018 Clemson was #1 in the country in sacks with 54

Their DL alone generates 37.5 sacks which would have been good for 19th in the country

This year?

They are down to 42 sacks through 14 games. Which is 12th in the country. Even more interesting is that their DL is only responsible for 19 of those sacks. Which would be good for 105th in the country all on its own.

Their leading pass rusher is a LB.

Further, when you look at Tackles for Loss you see a similar huge drop in DL play.

Clemson’s DL was responsible for 90.5/136 TFL last year. The overall unit was best in the country. The DL would have been 28th in the country

This year they are down to 49.5/111 TFL. The overall unit is down to 3rd in the county and 25 off their pace from last year. Their DL would be 127th in the country on its own.

So what is my point?

Clemson’s DL is not what it was last year or even close. We all remember Mullen’s sack, but the DL contributed 1/2 sacks and 5 TFL in the championship game.

Clemson will have to dedicate more defenders to passrushing or risk Joe having a lot of time to get the find an open receiver.