Brent Venables, Baylon Spector talk Clemson injuries and lack of discipline

After playing great football the first three games of the season, injuries and lack of discipline plagued Clemson on Saturday.

The Tigers gave up nearly 400 yards to N.C. State this past weekend and committed nine penalties, six of those being offsides calls. Their inability to get off the field — coupled with the continued struggles on offense — led to the defense being on the field for over 40 minutes in regulation.

Defensive coordinator Brent Venables said after the loss that his group needs to play smarter.

“Tough night to learn a lesson,” Venables told the media in a postgame presser. “Jumping offsides multiple times put them in a lot of manageable third down situations. Just got to do a better job from a discipline standpoint.”

Venables says Clemson needs to be “more efficient”

In every game this season, Clemson has lost the time of possession battle. This, in turn, has led to the Tigers having ran less plays than their opponent in every game besides their win over S.C. State.

The defense being on the field so much, according to Venables, has added up over time.

“It has a cumulative effect,” Venables said. “We have to be more efficient getting off the field. Guys had to really bite down and take more reps here and against Georgia Tech. They have so much fight, they never quit, their toughness, the love for each other… we had a chance to win the game at the end because of their resolve.”

Veteran linebacker Baylon Spector also echoed some of those same sentiments as his coach did during his time with the media.

Spector, who was called for a 15-yard personal foul penalty in the third quarter, talked about Clemson’s need for the defense to play better.

“Just undisciplined in a lot of areas, especially in that key situation. That one was on me,” Spector said. “Just a boneheaded mistake. I own up to it. Thankfully, we got another chance right there, but definitely a boneheaded mistake by me… I just know that we’ve got to be better in those situations. Obviously, they had a lot of third down conversions, and a lot of those were from undisciplined play by us.”

Addressing key injuries on Saturday

On Sunday, head coach Dabo Swinney revealed that star defensive tackle Bryan Bresee has a torn ACL. He also noted that James Skalski, who missed the entirety of the second half, “will be fine.”

Spector acknowledged the impact of losing those two starters, but praised a few players for how they filled in for Skalski.

“It’s tough,” Spector said. “Jamie obviously does a great job of coming in there and being passionate about getting the calls in. Getting people where they’re supposed to be lined up. Bryan is Bryan. He’s very disruptive. Obviously, going to be a great player. Praying for him because he’s hurting right now. So is Jamie.

“Lavonta [Bentley], Kane [Patterson] and Keith [Maguire] all came in and they stepped up and did their job,” Spector added. “Proud of those guys for coming in and stepping up, making plays and calling plays like they’re supposed to.”

Venables was visibly emotional when opening up about those injuries following the game.

“First and foremost, you just hurt for them,” Venables said. “You know how hard they work. They love, they compete, and they love their brothers and they love the game. You hate that for them. But we’ve got good, young, talented players, too. Gave them an opportunity to step up and I’m proud of their efforts as well.”