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Ahead of No. 2 Clemson facing No. 3 Notre Dame in today's Cotton Bowl Classic, Tigerillustrated.com has some important, last-minute details to cover in this in-depth feature.

-- At this point it's safe to say Brent Venables is terrifying when he has extra time to prepare.

Six years ago, at the end of a rollercoaster first season in charge of Clemson's defense, everything finally started to come together in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

The Tigers' young defensive line began to rampage. Mighty LSU -- yes, the Bayou Bengals were mighty back in those days -- was held to 99 yards on the ground and 219 yards total.

And so began a tradition of Venables spending the month of December cooking up toxic recipes for opposing offenses.