CLEMSON — Brent Venables didn’t see much of the Orange Bowl.

Venables, then Oklahoma’s defensive coordinator, was on a home visit with a recruit. He watched the first quarter, and admitted to being “scared looking at some of these creatures you’ve got on offense” like wide receiver Sammy Watkins and quarterback Tajh Boyd.

But he turned the TV off after that, and missed much of the destruction of West Virginia’s 70-33 win, the second-worst defensive performance in Clemson history, and a big reason why he was being introduced as the Tigers’ new defensive coordinator last Friday.

“They have nothing to be ashamed of around here,” Venables said. “They just won the ACC and they're going in the right direction. I've been on both sides of it and sometimes that happens."

Indeed: West Virginia’s rout shattered Orange Bowl records set by Southern California, which mauled Oklahoma and Venables’ defense in a 55-19 rout in the 2005 national title game, which was also played in Sun Life Stadium.

Still, Venables is confident he has a great foundation to build a great defense at Clemson. He said multiple times Friday that “the needle is pointing in one direction, and that’s up.”

That, he said, is worth building on.

“They’ve had great success here,” he said. “Played great defense here. Shared the division title, won the ACC. Great things are already happening and there’s no reason to believe they won’t continue to happen as we push forward.

“That’s the whole thing I felt from everyone involved. There’s no satisfaction going on here. It’s the ability to stay on top and lead. Regardless of the success you’ve had, you get the feeling people aren’t satisfied. They want more and I really sense that from everyone.”

As of last Friday, Venables had watched “zero video” of Clemson’s defense, but was well aware of its young linebacker corps, a group he’ll be charged with developing as their position coach. The Tigers return all three 2011 starters in Corico Hawkins, Jonathan Willard and Quandon Christian, but perhaps most intriguing are a group of backups. Five-star signee Stephone Anthony improved as the season went on, and fellow freshman Lateek Townsend contributed as a special-teamer but not on defense. Another five-star signee, Tony Steward, tore his ACL for a second time midway through the season; his status for spring practice is uncertain.

He mentioned that there will be “a great opportunity” for young players, which could bode well for redshirts like defensive back Cortez Davis and linebacker B.J. Goodson as well as commitments like defensive back Travis Blanks and defensive tackle Carlos Watkins, among others.

“They have a great foundation,” he said. “There’s a young group of players who are talented, eager to work and have a willingness to work. With seven returning starters, it all starts up front.”

There will be questions on the defensive line, where starting defensive end Andre Branch and defensive tackles Brandon Thompson and Rennie Moore have graduated; Branch and Thompson are likely early-round NFL draft picks, and Moore is expected to get an NFL shot, too.

“Any good football team, on both sides of the ball you’ve got to physically win at the line of scrimmage,” he said. “Everywhere else, you can get away with good players, they don’t have to be the best players. But if you’re not winning up front, it’s going to be hard on a consistent basis to be really good.”

Venables wants to develop a core “from inside out” centered around great linebackers, but one that also plays with passion, intensity and physicality.

If nothing else, they’ll be motivated to play for him, given the events he missed out on when he turned off that television set.

“Absolutely we'll win,” he said. “I've got great confidence.”