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CLEMSON -- Faith is hard to come by on a message board when things get wobbly.
Even faith in a team that's going for 14 consecutive wins overall, and 38 straight wins at home to break the record of some Florida State program that had a pretty good era one time.
Early in Saturday's game, the in-game thread on Tigerillustrated.com was an in-game shred of Wes Goodwin, among others.
A sampling of the carnage:
Our defense is a joke.
Our D is ass.
Wes Goodwin is a horrid mess of a defensive coordinator.
This defense is average on a good day.
Is there anything more overrated in college football than Clemson defense.
This D is hot garbage.
It's embarrassing that Wes Goodwin is our DC.
The defense this season is a pathetic mess.
Robert Anae is making Wes his b%4&@
Wes Goodwin is a joke.
Dabo has himself to blame for that ridiculous hire.
This coaching staff sucks so $5&@# bad.
We truly have a high school coaching staff that is wasting talent because Dabo has become arrogant.
Fire Wes please he has no idea what he's doing.
Wes Goodwin is terrible.
Our goose is cooked. We play like pansies these days. Starts with Dabo. Has no killer instinct, but our CULTURE is FANTASTIC
I would slap the shit out of Wes Goodwin if I could get my hands on him.
If Dabo had the stones, he'd fire Wes at halftime.
This game is over.
Ball. Game.
This is why we're always amused when there's an uproar over some national media member who is skeptical of Clemson or doesn't have the Tigers ranked highly enough. By far the worst, most indecent and unfair criticisms always come from within where fans just can't wait to eat their own.
This craziness is certainly not limited to Clemson. But we dare say it's a bit extraordinary given the colossally brilliant track record built by this head coach, certainly not built out of nothing but definitely out of nowhere.
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With some folks you not only wonder if they're going to remain in the foxhole. You wonder if they're going to toss a grenade in said foxhole after leaving it.
It turns out Goodwin's defense recovered quite nicely after the aforementioned wobbly moments against a pretty good offense.
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Before Syracuse's final drive penetrated Clemson territory but ended in an interception, the Orange had six second-half punts, 35 offensive yards on 22 plays, and 69 yards worth of penalties.
Certainly Dabo Swinney and the offensive staff deftly managed the situation with DJ Uiagalelei having a bad day and his backup looking less than ready to take over the world.
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But there's zero question: Defense is what won this game and improved Clemson to 8-0.
And defense is what has looked pretty darned good after halftime lately.
Yes, Goodwin's group let its guard down late in Tallahassee with some poor tackling and focus. It wasn't pretty.
But other than that it's been pretty close to a masterpiece after halftime over the last four games.
As of the afternoon of Sept. 24 at Wake Forest, it felt like it couldn't get any worse and Goodwin's crew was a long way from getting back to the standards set for most of the previous decade.
Since allowing 24 points and just one punt in the final 30 minutes of regulation in Winston-Salem, Clemson has yielded 24 points in the last 120 minutes of second-half football against Syracuse, Florida State, Boston College and N.C. State. And that includes a garbage-time touchdown by the Wolfpack.
Over that span opposing offenses have totaled 15 punts, two interceptions, two lost fumbles, two turnovers on downs and a blocked field goal.
That's a pretty good trend, and it's come amid some significant attrition on defense that some of the great defenses of the past didn't have to deal with.
Before Saturday, the defensive line and secondary were revolving doors with various players out with injuries and other issues.
Then the linebacking corps got hit as Barrett Carter, arguably the most valuable player on that side of the ball, had to sit with a concussion.
In 2018, the opening-day starters went on to make 96 percent of the starts that season. Through eight games this season, 17 different players on defense have started. Six of the opening-day starters against Georgia Tech have missed a combined 13 games.
Talent matters, and Clemson has lots of it. But so does continuity, and Goodwin is still trying to achieve it as he prepares for the final stretch of the regular season.
A stretch that, by the way, doesn't look particularly daunting.
Notre Dame has been a bit of a mess on offense and ranks 77th nationally in total offense. Louisville has the feared Malik Cunningham but ranks just 56th in total offense.
Miami's biggest offensive accomplishment this season might be committing eight turnovers two days ago in a 45-21 home loss to Duke, during which starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke left the game with a shoulder injury.
South Carolina is 5-2 but hasn't exactly lit it up on offense, ranking 81st nationally after totaling 286 yards in Saturday's victory over Texas A&M.
The common belief entering this season was that an elite defense would have to help prop up an offense that would spend significant time gaining confidence and rhythm.
As it turned out DJ Uiagalelei and others were a bit ahead of schedule and the defense had to find its bearings.
But with the quarterback situation now a big question after Uiagalelei's poor showing against Syracuse, maybe the complexion of the season moving forward will be closer to what we thought it'd be going in.
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Performance and perceptions can change a lot during a season.
Or during a game that ends with fans trying to quietly remove grenades they lobbed into their own foxhole.
OUR STOREWIDE FLASH SALE: Over 3,500 officially-licensed CLEMSON apparel/gear items ON SALE (some 65% OFF) at The Tiger Fan Shop HERE!
