CLEMSON -- Mickey Conn provided a short but emphatic answer earlier this week when asked about Clemson's new linebacker configuration.

"Oh it's big-time," he said. "It's going to make us a lot better."

Mid-November is not too late for position switches at important positions, and the emergence of Clemson's linebackers indicates it's also not too late for this defense as a whole to author a second act to a season that hit rock bottom just 19 days ago at Notre Dame.

Certainly there are other factors than just the second level of a defense that has been highly disruptive in the 120 minutes of football that followed the mauling in South Bend.

But the catalyst is unquestionably a combination of ideal positional fits and natural growth at the linebacker spots.