Venables no stranger to up-tempo football

CLEMSON -- Brent Venables must have felt as if he was facing opponents on both sides of the football field this past season.

In addition to devising game plans to stop opposing offenses, Venables, the incoming defensive coordinator at Clemson, was tested by his own team's up-tempo offense at Oklahoma.

The Sooners ranked in the top five nationally in total offensive plays in each of the last three years, while Venables' defenses ranked 9th (2009), 53rd (2010) and 55th (2011) in yards allowed.

So, Venables will be familiar with the hurry-up offensive style at Clemson, which ran 1,055 offensive plays, the second most in the country. Clemson's defense was on the field for a program record 986 snaps, up from 865 in 2010. Clemson fell from a total defense national ranking of 19th in 2010 to 71st.

Oklahoma and Clemson were not alone in struggling to achieve top defensive rankings while employing fast-paced offenses. The 20 teams with the most offensive plays in 2011 had defenses combining to rank 64th overall in yards allowed and 57th in points allowed.

When asked if defensive performance should be recalibrated when paired with an up-tempo offense, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney indicated he was unwilling to lower expectations.

"Offense's job is to score," Swinney said. "The defense's job is to stop them."

Jay Niemann is the defensive coordinator at Northern Illinois, a program that also employs a fast-paced offense, ranking 12th in the nation with 1,022 offensive plays.

Niemann, whose defense ranked 85th in scoring this past season, said an up-tempo offense is "a double-edged sword."

"You love the fact that you can score points and you never feel like you are out of a game as a team," Niemann said. "The downside of that, defensively, is you are often times on the field a lot. Often times you are on the field without chances to make the kind of adjustments you need to make.

"I think it's important as a program that the No. 1 goal is to win the game. You don't worry about the stats -- how many yards you give up, how many yards you make." Niemann said he watched "parts" of the Orange Bowl when Clemson committed three turnovers in the second quarter.

West Virginia ran 50 plays in the first half and scored 35 points in the second quarter on its way to a 70-33 victory. Kevin Steele was out as Clemson's defensive coordinator the next week.

"Unfortunately in the world we live in, in Division I athletics, when you do stub your toe and lose a game, everyone is looking to point a finger at somebody," Niemann said.

"And often times with offenses that play in that style, if the defense can't get its job done, that's where the finger points."

Look no further than across the sideline at the Orange Bowl for further evidence of the up-tempo influence on defensive performance.

Under defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel, West Virginia had the nation's 8th, 11th, 31st, and 3rd best scoring defenses from 2007 to 2010. Casteel's defense fell to 61st in 2011 as head coach Dana Holgorsen went to an up-tempo offense.

Fast-paced Oregon's defense has ranked 78th, 51st, 12th, and 48th in scoring defense since 2007.

Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti employs full defensive line changes, which he compares to NHL-style line substitutions, to keep his defensive players fresh.

"We do what we do, so we've learned to live with it," Aliotti said last season. "So I don't want to stand up here and be negative. That's why we play so many players. But it's nice when the offensive team stays on the field and has a six- or seven-minute drive. It's even nice if they don't score, believe it or not, because you get a chance to rest."