Notre Dame vs. Clemson: Game Grades, Analysis for Fighting Irish and Tigers
It was a game that had an aura of history surrounding it. Notre Dame and Clemson, two traditional powers, hadn't met for nearly four decades. On Saturday night, Notre Dame went into Death Valley as the No. 6 team in the nation to take on the Tigers, who were ranked No. 12.
These two heavyweights didn't disappoint.
Clemson jumped out to an early lead, but the Irish came roaring back in the fourth quarter before the game was eventually decided on a two-point conversion attempt from the Irish—which the Tigers stopped just one yard shy to win 24-22.
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There was plenty of good to go over, as well as a bit of ugliness, too. But now after catching our collective breath after that thrilling finish, it's time to delve into the game grades for both Clemson and Notre Dame.
Here is the box score, via NCAA.com.
| Pass Offense | B- | A- |
| Run Offense | C- | D+ |
| Pass Defense | B | B+ |
| Run Defense | B- | C+ |
| Special Teams | B | B |
| Coaching | B | D |
Notre Dame Pass Offense
There was a lot to like about DeShone Kizer's performance. Despite a slow start, he eventually finished with 321 yards on 19-of-34 passing with two touchdowns.
Kizer found open receivers when he had to, especially late in the game as Clemson's secondary began to wear down. On a night when the football might as well have been coated in Crisco, Kizer was able to fire strikes under pressure late in the fourth quarter. For such a young quarterback who wasn't even supposed to be a starter this season, he certainly has found a way to handle the pressure.
It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, though. Kizer missed badly on the majority of his first-half throws (9-of-19 for 96 yards in the first half), missing high on many occasions. Perhaps the wet conditions affected his ability to grip and throw the ball like he normally does. If so, that makes his second-half adjustment even more impressive.
But Kizer also tossed up a costly fourth-quarter interception that nearly cost the Irish even a shot at coming back. Were in not for the ensuing missed field goal by Clemson, we may not even be talking about how close this one was.
Notre Dame Run Offense
Notre Dame had a difficult time all evening long against a feisty Clemson defense. The usually reliant C.J. Prosise ended the game with just 50 yards on 15 carries, with his longest run of the night going for just 10 yards.
While the Irish did end up with 116 rushing yards, Kizer accounted for 60 of them, and most of those yards came on scrambles rather than designed quarterback runs.
Notre Dame's offensive line had trouble bottling up Clemson's front seven all evening in an uncharacteristic manner. For the better part of three quarters, it seemed as if Clemson was simply imposing its will on the Irish O-line. Kizer was under pressure all evening, and any delayed handoff was almost always doomed to lose yards.
All in all, it was not a great night for the Irish ground attack, and our final grade reflects that feeling.
Notre Dame Pass Defense
Clemson's offensive attack isn't predicated on constant passing. Still, the Irish did a better-than-expected job of keeping Deshaun Watson's passing options limited. The Irish gave up just 97 passing yards (including just 32 after halftime).
The rain certainly helped things a bit, but on a night when the Irish passing game hung 321 yards on the Tigers secondary, Clemson can't blame everything on the weather.
Notre Dame Run Defense
This was another above-average performance from a stout defense that is becoming known for its ability to adjust to and lock down run threats as a game progresses.
The Tigers finished with 199 rushing yards, most of which were racked up early in the first and third quarters.
Watson is just the latest in a growing list of explosive dual-threat quarterbacks in the FBS these days, but the Irish managed to—after the first few drives in both halves—limit Watson's ground options almost as much as they limited his passing options.
Watson finished with 93 yards and a touchdown, while Wayne Gallman carried the ball 22 times for 98 yards.
Notre Dame Special Teams
Justin Yoon connected on his only field-goal attempt of the night, and Tyler Newsome came through in the punting game when it mattered most.
Newsome did have a 15-yard shank early in the game but finished the evening with a respectable 37.5-yard average on his seven punts.
C.J. Sanders also delivered with a much-needed big play in the second half, returning a kickoff 46 yards to midfield.
Notre Dame Coaching
We could go on and on about Brian Kelly's adjustments on defense, locking down Clemson after the Tigers' initial explosion in the first quarter, or we could talk about his ability to keep his team in games, no matter what the score is in the fourth quarter.
But all of that has been said before and will likely be said again before too long.
Here, we're going to look at one decision Kelly made that had an effect on the rest of the football game: going for two after the Irish scored their first touchdown of the night.
The game, in the end, came down to one play: a two-point conversion that Notre Dame needed to tie with seven seconds remaining.
There's an adage in football coaching that a team should never "chase points" until it is absolutely necessary. Kelly, trailing 21-9 at this point, could have kicked the extra point to make it a 21-10 game. He opted to try to cut the Tigers' lead to 10 instead of 11.
The conversion failed.
Clemson scored once more, making the score 24-9. Had Kelly opted for a kicked extra point to make the score 21-10, the two touchdowns scored by the Irish in the fourth quarter would have (with successful kicked PATs) tied the score. Instead, the Irish were forced to go for two again in the closing seconds of the game.
Many will look at the second conversion failure as the one that cost Notre Dame the game, but the first failure was just as damning.
| Pass Offense | B+ | B- |
| Run Offense | B | B |
| Pass Defense | B | C- |
| Run Defense | A | A |
| Special Teams | B | B- |
| Coaching | B+ | B- |
Clemson Pass Offense
Watson isn't exactly known as a passing wizard. Coming into this game, he ranked just fifth among ACC quarterbacks with 213.7 passing yards per game. That ranking will likely drop after a 97-yard performance against Notre Dame.
Watson was a middling 11-of-22 passing with two touchdowns and an interception. And most of the passing yards he did find came on Clemson's first two drives in the first quarter.
Yes, Watson is just as dangerous—if not more so—on the ground as he is throwing the football. But in order to prevent defenses from selling out against his legs, Watson is going to need to find some real threats with his arm.
Yes, the crummy weather lends us a perfect excuse for bad passing numbers. But Notre Dame's Kizer had 321 passing yards in the exact same conditions.
Clemson Run Offense
However, when you run like Watson can run, you can get away with 97 passing yards on some nights.
He led the Tigers with 5.8 yards per rush, and Notre Dame had trouble bringing enough bodies to the play when Watson scooted to the outside with blockers.
Gallman also added to Notre Dame's defensive woes early in both halves, adding a game-high 98 yards on 22 carries.
Still, it's worth mentioning that for vast stretches of this game, Notre Dame held Clemson's offense completely in check. Were it not for the early lead and Notre Dame's similar inability to move the football, this game may have had a different outcome.
Clemson Pass Defense
There are teams around the nation that are better at throwing the football than Notre Dame. If you watched just the final quarter of this game, however, you might think otherwise.
Despite early inaccuracies, Notre Dame's Kizer settled down nicely in the second half and was even able to pick apart the Clemson secondary to the tune of 321 yards.
Again, Clemson had the benefit of an early lead, but the Tigers shouldn't always rely on teams spotting them a couple of touchdowns early.
Clemson is still the class of the ACC on both sides of the football. But if the Tigers are lucky enough to win a conference title and earn a College Football Playoff berth, shoring up the pass defense is going to be a big necessity if they want to add anything beyond "earned a berth" to their story of the 2015 season.
Clemson Run Defense
There aren't many running backs in the nation more electric than Prosise. Few defenses in the nation are capable of shutting down a guy who is averaging 150 yards per game and limiting him to just 3.3 yards per rush on 15 attempts (for 50 yards).
Clemson has one of those defenses.
Detractors will point out that Notre Dame doesn't really have a plethora of rushing threats. That might be true, but point out a team that does? Heck, even Oregon seems to be running on empty these days.
The Irish were limited to just 3.5 yards per carry Saturday night after averaging 284.8 yards per game over the first four weeks of the season (12th in the FBS).
The Tigers all but removed the threat of Prosise in this game and, in doing so, proved themselves to be one of the nation's emerging elite defenses.
Clemson Special Teams
Greg Huegel connected on one of his two field-goal attempts on the evening, and although the late miss could have potentially iced the game for the Tigers, it's hard to pin too much of the blame on a guy kicking into a swirling wind literally in the middle of a hurricane-driven downpour.
Clemson also averaged better than 41 yards on its eight punts and 32 yards per kick return.
Not a bad night, all things considered, but also not a night that's going to win too many accolades.
Clemson Coaching
On one hand, it's hard to say anything bad about a coach who seemingly wills his team to win these big games through sheer force of personality and guts. On the other hand, Dabo Swinney should feel very lucky to be heading home with a victory.
With the exception of the first two drives of the game and the first drive of the second half (which was set up by Notre Dame fumbling the kickoff return), the Irish had the Tigers' number for most of the evening.
The Irish spotted the Tigers 14 points to open the contest, and despite struggling mightily late in the game, Swinney opted to go into turtle mode with better than nine minutes left.
Sure, the Tigers were up by 15 and the Irish hadn't been finding much success against the Tigers defense all night, but nine minutes is a long time to burn off the clock when only leading by a pair of scores.
Yes, in the end, Clemson won, and that's wonderful for Swinney and Tigers fans around the nation. Yes, Clemson is the ACC front-runner, and rightfully so. But moving your offense into ultra-conservative mode so early in the fourth quarter with a comparatively slim lead is playing with fire. It just so happened that it worked.
This time. By a yard.
Unless otherwise noted, quotes or references to quotes were obtained firsthand by the writer.
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