Clemson’s DC was the star of last year’s bowl against his old team. Now they meet in the Playoff

The campuses of Clemson and Oklahoma are separated by 1,000 miles, and the two schools play in separate conferences. Nevertheless, the Tigers and Sooners are connected, and that provides some added intrigue for their upcoming College Football Playoff semifinal.

Let’s start with last season’s Russell Athletic Bowl. Clemson set the stage for a big 2015 with a resounding 40-6 win, masterminded by the other similarity that dominated last year’s story lines — former Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables leading a rout against his old team.

Venables got so excited during the game, Clemson’s assistant strength and conditioning coach was tasked with keeping him on the sidelines.

That’s the easy story line. Oklahoma and Clemson are meeting for the second year in a row, with a defensive coordinator they both know. But for all those surface similarities, Clemson and Oklahoma might has well have never played before, because these are two brand new teams. The most obvious difference comes at quarterback.

Clemson started Cole Stoudt last year, while Oklahoma started Trevor Knight. This year, the Tigers and Sooners both have different starters — Deshaun Watson and Baker Mayfield, respectively — who are both Heisman candidates. The two teams’ explosiveness (isoPPP) and efficiency (success rate) metrics are vastly different, as well.

The Oklahoma offense doesn’t need to plod its way down the field this year. The Sooners can hit big plays behind the arm of Mayfield. The defensive footprint looks completely different, as the Sooners are particularly well suited to stop the big play. That was a major issue last season, as OU gave up three touchdown passes to Clemson of over 20 yards, including a 65-yarder to start the game.

Oklahoma made fundamental changes before and during the season to turn into one of the top four teams in the country.

Clemson is somewhat the opposite. Last year, with a somewhat immobile runner like Stoudt at quarterback for much of the season, the Tigers couldn’t move the ball down the field efficiently. But now, with Watson, they’re able to grind out long possessions if they need to. Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops noted that without seeing Watson, it’s hard for that game tape to even be that useful.

You look back and even though Deshaun Watson wasn’t playing, that part of it is a little bit different. All of the run game with his is so challenging to deal with. That part will be different. There’s enough games this year to watch and study.

And unlike last year, when he knew two classes of players at Oklahoma, Venables won’t recognize this Sooners defense. The current seniors were freshmen when he was with the team.

Venables is known for taking risks on defense, which is why the Tigers rank fourth nationally in havoc rate. This OU defense prefers to play things safe, focusing on limiting big plays, and as a result, it ranks 53rd in havoc rate.

These teams know each other. The coaches know each other, and the players have seen each other before. But other than those shallow familiarities, these two teams are seeing different iterations of their opponent than they’ve seen before. This is a new Clemson and a new Oklahoma.

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