Instant Reaction | Clemson 31 Notre Dame 23
Losing to Clemson was always a possibility.
It’s always a possibility with this Notre Dame offense against a good defense and Clemson has a very good defense.
But the way it happened, with the Irish within eight points producing only two first downs on their final six drives, makes it especially brutal. Throw in a pick-six, another interception, and two red zone chances that turned into field goals, it looks just like what we’ve seen from the offense for way too much of the last six games.
Sam Hartman wasn’t nearly good enough. He didn’t get much help from Gerad Parker, who once again has found no good answers on 3rd down. They were 3 of 13 in the game.
It’s easy to blame it on the absence of Mitchell Evans, but even with him they had these same issues. They’ve had plenty of time to try and find ways to replace Jayden Thomas as a receiver and haven’t managed that well either.
Any perceived progress on offense against Pitt was lost after this game. The season is now pretty much lost in terms of deeming it any kind of success as well.
- Muffing a punt, giving up a big play in the running game, and the aforementioned pick-six in the first half almost made it impossible to come back in the second half.
24-6 felt insurmountable.
One turnover, who else but Xavier Watts, and then a quick touchdown got the Irish back in the game. Unfortunately it was followed up by a touchdown drive by Clemson right after that.
All Notre Dame couldn’t do was give up a touchdown and they had a chance to get off the field on 3rd and 9, but didn’t. The defense basically had to play perfect in the second half and they almost did, minus that one drive.
- Obviously the defense wasn’t the reason Notre Dame lost the game. The defense is good enough for them to be undefeated right now.
The same could be said for Clemson, yet they have four losses and Notre Dame has three.
It’s fair to say that the Irish didn’t play at the same level they have been. Sure, 4.1 yards per play and 4.2 yards per attempt for Cade Klubnik is something any defense would take. They gave up way too much to Phil Mafah, though. Clemson ran for 6.7 yards per carry on 1st down.
All credit for how good Mafah was, but Notre Dame did a poor job timing up and fitting their run blitzes like on the long run where DJ Brown should have been set up to have a tackle for loss. A TFL turns into a touchdown, which is not something that has been a common occurrence.
The defensive line also didn’t dominate a banged up Clemson offensive line as well. That was a surprise and if they did, the Irish might have won this game even with struggles on offense.
- It’s incredible that Notre Dame was able to run the football as well as they did early on and not have that translate into something better. It’s even more incredible that Audric Estime ran for 82-yards in the first half and yet only had three carries in the second half (one of which was his goal line touchdown).
Notre Dame had the ball with it as a one-score game several series in the second half. There is no excuse to not get him the football more, especially when they couldn’t have had much confidence with the way Sam Hartman was throwing the football.
- Why run the ball on 3rd and long to start the game if the intention was not to go for it on 4th down?
Why weren’t they more aggressive in the red zone knowing that field goals weren’t going to cut it once they fell behind?
Why didn’t they use a timeout when the second team secondary was getting beat on Clemson’s first half touchdown drive? Why not get settled and get the first group back in once Clemson reached the red zone?
These questions are the ones that might not matter if they won the game. But they didn’t win the game, so those stand out as potential turning points.
- Marcus Freeman and his staff have to have some difficult conversations during the bye week. Yes, they have another one this week. (That should be another conversation with the someone else about the schedule, but it is what it is)
He’s a player’s coach, but he has to look at every angle from the correct perspective to close out this season. He can’t abandon the seniors who have played very hard for him who have been primarily the backbone of the team and the defense. At the same time, they have to make sure they have good evaluations on individuals who will be back next year and are going to at least need an idea from some of them whether or not they will be back in 2024.
Freeman also has to decide who he and the staff want back. These decisions are going to be absolutely critical because 2023 can only be classified as a disappointment now that they have lost three games in the manner they’ve lost them.
Obviously there are going to be decisions for him to make within the staff itself and it’s been clear for a while that the status quo going into next year is not going to cut it if Freeman wants the program to ascend. He can’t have these same things happen again next fall.
Anyone could argue that Notre Dame could easily be undefeated right now or could be 9-1. The reality is that they aren’t. They have a College Football Playoff caliber defense and they still have three losses.
After Gabriel Rubio forced a fumble to give Notre Dame back the ball with one more chance and two timeouts, the Irish could have come back and tied the game and then won it in overtime. It wouldn’t have changed the fact that there are coaching and personnel issues that need to be addressed if they want to be better than good enough to make a New Year’s 6 Bowl or to make a 12-team playoff.
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