CLEMSON -- Halfway through the third quarter against Stanford, Clemson's defense had allowed five rushes of 20 or more yards.

The Cardinal had totaled five such runs through their first three games.

The struggles stopping the run were a shock to the system of everyone, including yours truly, who came in thinking Stanford's young and developing offensive line wouldn't hold up well against a defensive line that entered the season supposedly among the elite in college football.

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At this point, four games in, the emphasis has to be on supposedly.

Just to be clear before we go any further: The idea here is not to heap criticism on a group that is still developing and still has some young and developing pieces in its own right.

The idea is not to say this group can't ultimately cohere into a consistently disruptive force over the long term.

And of course the idea is not to ignore the recent absence of Peter Woods, perhaps the best player on the entire roster and certainly one of the harder guys to block nationally.

But it's the first day of October and there's a four-game sample size as Clemson prepares for Saturday's game at Florida State.

And matched against the expectations most all of us had of this group before the season, the numbers are surprising if not shocking.

Staying on the big-play rush theme: Clemson's 10 rushes of 20 or more yards allowed is more than the great 2017 defense allowed (nine) over 14 games.