Notre Dame Opponent Preview | Clemson
They’ve won 10 games or more in nine straight seasons. They’ve been to the College Football Playoff in five straight years and have appeared in the championship game four times. They’ve won two national championships.
Clemson is the standard everyone is chasing in college football right now.
There’s a gap that exists between them and everyone else in the ACC and the program closest to them is Notre Dame. That’s why everyone knows that out of the teams on Clemson’s schedule, the Irish have the best chance at beating them.
Having a chance is one thing. Actually beating them is another. They’ve only lost two games in the last five regular seasons and that was by a combined four points.
Saying this will be Notre Dame’s toughest opponent is an understatement. They are an elite program and should be undefeated when they visit South Bend November.
Offense
This is again going to be one of the top offenses in the country with no obvious weakness. They have explosive skill positions athletes and a generational talent at quarterback who is 25-1 as a starter.
Trevor Lawrence was not his sharpest against LSU, but he’s still projected to be the top pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. He’s mobile, accurate, and is an elite arm talent that can make difficult throws look routine.
He won’t have the benefit of unstoppable red zone machine Tee Higgins this season and Justyn Ross, who torched Notre Dame in the 2018 Cotton Bowl, won’t be there as well. A neck injury will keep him sidelined for 2020 and maybe longer.
Slot receiver Amari Rodgers is back, but he’s been relatively underwhelming during his Clemson career. He has flashed great ability after the catch. It’s just not been consistent. He might be a more featured player by default after losing Ross.
Look out for sophomores Joseph Ngata and Frank Ladson (both in the 2019 ISD Fab 50). They have star potential and at least one of them should emerge in a big way this fall. Ngata is the bigger option on the boundary and Ladson is an electric athlete.
Everyone aside from Rodgers is relatively inexperienced, but there is too much talent there to not be great at receiver again even if they might take some time to get on the same page as Lawrence.
Running back Travis Etienne may be the best back in college football. Even when he’s bottled up all game, all it takes is one run for him to break things open. He’s a beast after contact. They have solid depth behind him as well.
As I said, they don’t have a weakness on offense, but the offensive line might not necessarily be a strength. They are replacing four starters with only left tackle Jackson Carman back. Guard Matt Bockhorst has played quite a bit, though, and so has right tackle Jordan McFadden. They should be solid up front, but aside from Carman, no player would start for Notre Dame.
Notre Dame’s defensive line has to be much better than them to beat Clemson.
They finished as the fourth most explosive offense in college football last season and should be just as dangerous this year. That’s why they are never truly out of any game.
X-factor - Etienne
Clemson loves to go four wide and spread teams out and when they do that, it leaves less in the box to deal with their running game. Etienne makes it impossible to concentrate on stopping vertical routes because extra defenders need to be present to prevent him from gashing teams.
Wild card - Ajou Ajou
The Canadian receiver is extremely raw, but you can’t teach 6’4” 220. If he figures it out this year and can team with Ngata (6’3” 220), Lawrence won’t miss Higgins and Ross as much as you’d think.
Defense
Brent Venables is back. Should I just end the preview there? That should say it all because as long as he’s around, they are going to play great defense at Clemson and this year will be no different despite losing a player like Isaiah Simmons.
The defensive line is bringing back all four starters, although Xavier Thomas’ status is uncertain after struggling to come back after contracting Covid-19, but the backups might be just as good or better than the starters.
Tyler Davis was disruptive as a freshman and had 6.5 sacks from the interior to go with 12 Havoc plays. Him and Nyles Pinckney are a strong duo inside, but look out for Bryan Bresee to be an immediate force at 3-technique. He was the top recruit in the country for a reason and has been earning glowing reviews in camp.
Justin Foster had 10.5 tackles for loss as an edge defender and even if Thomas isn’t ready to go, there is KJ Henry who is looking to break out and 5-star freshman Myles Murphy is going to be too good to keep off the field.
The front four was in transition last season, but will once again be the strength of the defense.
James Skalski was very good at inside linebacker for them last season, but they don’t have an obvious Simmons replacement in terms of a chess piece Venables can move around. Linebacker is the one area where they have been okay and still been elite. Regardless of who plays, they’re going to be fine.
They are replacing three starters in the secondary, but that shouldn’t be an issue. Derion Kendrick is back and is projected as one of the top corners in the 2021 NFL Draft. They are deep at corner and have recruited well there. Andrew Booth is someone with a very high ceiling and is another one I had in the 2019 Fab 50.
Safety isn’t considered to be as deep for them, but Nolan Turner returns and he’s played quite a bit. They might not have an impact player to play with him, although Lannden Zanders is in contention to start and I was very high on him as a high school prospect.
Clemson led the country in 3-and-out percentage last season (46.6%). They are probably going to be near the top in that category again.
X-factor - Davis
Davis might be the best defensive tackle in the ACC. Honestly, they are at a point where they could lose him for some time and still be darn good up front. But if I was forced to pick one player on defense to single out as the best, Davis felt like a good choice.
Wild card - Malcolm Greene
Greene has earned rave reviews as a true freshman by continuing to make plays as a corner. He may be the starter at nickel and is someone I viewed as a safety in college. It may be too soon to pencil him in as a chess piece for Venables, but it sounds like he will be a playmaker for them this season.
Overview
So, this Clemson team is going to be pretty good again. They might not have the star power that the 2018 team had, but I’d argue that they are deeper. They have more young talent with the potential to become stars by the time they visit South Bend than they have had before and that all comes back to recruiting at a different level in the last two classes.
Notre Dame is going to have to play their best game to beat them. Clemson is in another tier with Alabama and Ohio State in terms of accumulated talent and that’s going to be difficult to overcome.