3 Keys for Notre Dame's Defense vs Clemson

An offense that has a true freshman at quarterback isn’t supposed to be this good. There aren’t any that I can think of that have been as productive as Clemson with Trevor Lawrence at quarterback.

They are 7th in S&P+, 3rd in yards per play, and have averaged 45.8 points per game against Power 5 competition. Last year’s Georgia offense with Jake Fromm was very good (14th), but not at the same level as this 2018 Clemson group.

They don’t really have any noticeable weaknesses. The one great unknown with them is that they dominated average/bad defenses this season. They only played one defense that was in the top-40 of S&P+. Boston College was 28th and it’s probably not a coincidence that BC was the only defense to hold them under 30 points when Lawrence started and finished a game. (They actually only scored 20 points on offense as seven points came from a special teams return touchdown) 

Notre Dame has a defense that no one could classify as average. That’s one thing that makes this game so interesting. If we’re talking about “best on best”, Clemson’s offense against Notre Dame’s defense is the most intriguing matchup of the entire college football season.

If the Irish are going to come out on top in this game, their defense is going to have win in areas where Clemson has been winning all season long.

Limiting The Big Play

Clemson is loaded with explosive athletes at the skill positions. It’s not just about the top level talent. It’s the depth. They have three receivers who can scare teams deep and have four backs who have had runs of 60 yards or longer.

Receivers Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross are big and can go over the top of defensive backs on balls that aren’t even well thrown. Amari Rogers is an explosive athlete that only needs the smallest crease to get loose. Lawrence has been so good throwing the deep ball this year too.

In the running game it’s some of what the line is doing up front, but a good part of it is the talent of the runners. Travis Etienne is the best back Notre Dame will have faced in 2018 and it’s his ability to break tackles that separates him from so many others. Over half of his yards 1,446 yards on the ground have come after contact.

The Tigers are 5th in the country in big play rate (plays of 20 yards or more).

If all of that sounds scary, keep in mind that Notre Dame’s defense has been outstanding when it comes to not giving up the big play. They are 4th in big play rate on their side of things.

A good part of that is that they have pretty talented players too. They have one of the better secondaries in college football and it’s extremely rare to ever see them have a bust in coverage.

The other thing is that Notre Dame tackles really well. Te’von Coney and Drue Tranquill are about as reliable as linebackers get in finishing tackles and all around the effort in pursuit on defense helps clean up mistakes when they do happen.

Clemson is going to have some big plays in this game because they are too talented for that not to occur. Notre Dame just has to make sure that there are only a few and that they don’t end up as Clemson scoring touchdowns.

Finishing Drives

This leads into another area where Clemson has been phenomenal. They almost always make the most of their scoring situations.

They finished 4th in the nation finishing drives averaging 5.47 points per scoring opportunity (the average when a drive reaches the opponent’s 40-yard line). The efficiency they have showed in that area of the field is incredible.

Lawrence has thrown 14 touchdowns in the red zone against zero interceptions. The frightening part is that they have not had to rely on Lawrence’s arm too often to get six. They have 32 red zone rushing touchdowns. Etienne has 14 of them and they’ll go to their big defensive tackles Dexter Lawrence and Christian Wilkins for support when they use heavy formations inside the 5 yard line.

There was only one game where they struggled and it was against BC. They only scored two touchdowns on four trips inside the 20. Is it a coincidence that they had some issues in the red zone against the only good defense they faced? I don’t know because one game is not enough to tell the story. For what it is worth, BC’s defense is 23rd in points per scoring opportunity.

You know what defense has been elite when it comes to clamping down inside their own 40 yard line?

That would be the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. They are 4th in that same statistic.

They almost never give up a layup in that area of the field and make offenses settle for the equivalent of low percentage fade away jumpers . If they do give up the big play, Clark Lea’s defense seems to take it as an insult and then fight back. It will make a big difference in the game if they keep doing that in this matchup.

Dominate Up Front

Those two things and everything else on defense become a lot easier if they do this next thing well. If Notre Dame’s defensive line whips Clemson’s offensive line, that flips the script on what most of the people picking Clemson think about the game.

One of the reasons BC was able to compete on defense was the play of defensive end Zach Allen. The potential first round pick was a constant threat as a pass rusher and owned his matchup against right tackle Tremayne Anchrum. Lawrence still had a big game, but he was unexpectedly off on the deep ball because Allen and the BC D-line put more heat on him than he had seen in previous games.

Clemson showed great heart coming back against Syracuse after Lawrence went out of the game and the overall narrative of the game centered around that. The part that has been lost is that they were losing at the time Lawrence was injured. He finished with his lowest pass efficiency rating in that game and didn’t complete a pass longer than 19 yards on 15 throws.

The Syracuse pass rush played a large hand in that. Notre Dame fans are aware that it’s a solid front led by two talented defensive ends. They were giving Clemon’s O-line fits for much of that game.

Clemson’s O-line is a good one. They are 16th in sack rate and it’s not an accident that they are one of the top rushing teams in the FBS. They are led by left tackle Mitch Hyatt, a four year starter, who has only given up 11 total pressures on the season according to Pro Football Focus. They don’t have a bad player in their group and they play pretty well as a unit.

But it’s not the kind of group that I would expect to dominate Notre Dame’s defensive line and this is the best defensive line Clemson will have faced up to this point.

This needs to be a definitive win for the Irish in order to slow down Clemson’s offense. I believe it will give Notre Dame their best chance to come out on the right end of this semi-final game.