Nov 7 | Clemson

[House16]

listened to the Shamrock yesterday and they have some kid on who covers Clemson for the Athletic and she refers to all their players by their first name as if she is on the team or some shit, so embarrassing.

Lol tons of reporters and announcers do this, especially in the south. I thought it was a great interview. Hope they bring her back on in the lead up to Charlotte (knocks on wood so hard).

 

[BabyIrish]

Dan Patrick on his radio show said to watch out for Clemson safety Kyle Hamilton as he’s a first round talent. Proceeded to say that they always have talent. Fuck you Dan

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Dan Patrick on his radio show said to watch out for Clemson safety Kyle Hamilton as he’s a first round talent. Proceeded to say that they always have talent. Fuck you Dan

He is just out of touch...smh

 

[WilliamWallace]

So I’ve been jumping around through different sites and reading a lot of write ups on the upcoming game. One thing that is standing out to me is that Kelly seems to be getting quite irritated with the line of questioning. I must admit that I appreciate those bold enough to put the head coach on the spot. It actually amuses me. He’s clearly intelligent enough that he will later think about the questions. But arrogant enough to take offense to some of them. I hope they keep pouring it on, enough so that his fire turns into a killer mentality. He’s an alpha who’s become complacent and too proper. He’s got it in him to coach this tram to a victory.

 

[WilliamWallace]

*team

 

[AllTimeIrish]

*team

You can edit your posts.

 

[Junkhead]

Yes. At this point with no TLaw, Ettiene is the only scary thing. Id stack the box and and man cover most of the game. Make their QB beat us in the air.

Which is exactly what they will do to the Irish.

 

[NorthDakota]

Which is exactly what they will do to the Irish.

Lol at least Notre Dame is used to having a box stacked. Wonder if Clemson football players can even count to 8.

 

[IHateMarkMay]

If Kelly would actually win these kinds of games, he probably wouldn't get the questions to piss him off as much.

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

So I’ve been jumping around through different sites and reading a lot of write ups on the upcoming game. One thing that is standing out to me is that Kelly seems to be getting quite irritated with the line of questioning. I must admit that I appreciate those bold enough to put the head coach on the spot. It actually amuses me. He’s clearly intelligent enough that he will later think about the questions. But arrogant enough to take offense to some of them. I hope they keep pouring it on, enough so that his fire turns into a killer mentality. He’s an alpha who’s become complacent and too proper. He’s got it in him to coach this tram to a victory.

He needs to beat a top 5 team and all that goes away.

 

[Irish YJ]

He needs to beat a top 5 team and all that goes away.

Even if he wins this game, with Clemson being without TL, I'm not sure the Qs go away.

 

[Dizzyphil]

If Kelly would actually win these kinds of games, he probably wouldn't get the questions to piss him off as much.

He needs to beat a top 5 team and all that goes away.

In my simple observation - from the 2013 Championship game and there after, it seems the play-calling does a complete 180 from how the Irish played during the regular season when playing top tier teams...



I don't know if it's the defense or what... but just something I have noticed.

 

[dublinirish]

on II podcast Pete Sampson predicted a 24-23 win for ND..

 

[NDohio]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Clemson officially down two starters on defense who had been potential returnees this weekend. Middle linebacker James Skalski already out. <a href="https://t.co/NXSjh47hgR">https://t.co/NXSjh47hgR</a></p>— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteSampson_/status/1324133794824204298?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Mike Jones news is really pretty big. He is their coverage linebacker. He matches up with tight ends and running backs on routes. Him being out opens a pretty big window for Mayer to have a big game and maybe a wheel route or two out of the backfield.

Clemson fans here at the office are not very confident...

 

[zelezo vlk]

So you're saying the guys roll poor ol' Clemson??

 

[InKellyWeTrust]

So you're saying the guys roll poor ol' Clemson??

Send em back to the ROY bus (rest of y'all).

 

[dublinirish]

The Mike Jones news is really pretty big. He is their coverage linebacker. He matches up with tight ends and running backs on routes. Him being out opens a pretty big window for Mayer to have a big game and maybe a wheel route or two out of the backfield.

Clemson fans here at the office are not very confident...

they actually ran a nickel defense against BC when he went out, the ND OL would eat that up you would think

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

The Mike Jones news is really pretty big. He is their coverage linebacker. He matches up with tight ends and running backs on routes. Him being out opens a pretty big window for Mayer to have a big game and maybe a wheel route or two out of the backfield.

Clemson fans here at the office are not very confident...

 

[Circa]

Did y'all know that Clemson is apparently known for stealing signs?

I believe it! The only good thing that come from masks is that if they have deaf people on their sideline, they’ll need infrared goggles too...

 

[RDU Irish]

Even if he wins this game, with Clemson being without TL, I'm not sure the Qs go away.

Win squashes that bug and a loss digs the thorn deeper in to his side. Even short handed they would be the best team he has ever beaten by a sizeable margin.

You guys are giving me hope - I still don't see Book throwing well enough to overcome the stuffing of the run that Clemson can do with numbers. If we can't stretch the field I don't think we can outscore Clemson. If we win, I think it will be two big defensive plays that set up scores for us that makes it happen.

 

[Irish YJ]

Win squashes that bug and a loss digs the thorn deeper in to his side. Even short handed they would be the best team he has ever beaten by a sizeable margin.

You guys are giving me hope - I still don't see Book throwing well enough to overcome the stuffing of the run that Clemson can do with numbers. If we can't stretch the field I don't think we can outscore Clemson. If we win, I think it will be two big defensive plays that set up scores for us that makes it happen.

Nah, bug is not squashed, just bounced off the windshield. It may not fly for a month, but it aint dead. To squash it, we'd need to beat Clemson with TL in the ACCC.

 

[PANDFAN]

Nah, bug is not squashed, just bounced off the windshield. It may not fly for a month, but it aint dead. To squash it, we'd need to beat Clemson with TL in the ACCC.

i see your point, but abc, espn,fox etc will no longer have a graphic indicating the last time ND beat a #1 team is from 1993....while it may be somewhat tarnished w/out TL....it does put to bed that being a talking point.....from a recruiting perspective it helps bolster what ND is selling

 

[Irish YJ]

i see your point, but abc, espn,fox etc will no longer have a graphic indicating the last time ND beat a #1 team is from 1993....while it may be somewhat tarnished w/out TL....it does put to bed that being a talking point.....from a recruiting perspective it helps bolster what ND is selling

Yea, I guess it eliminates a "graphic", but the win will also have a talking point "*" too.
Don't get me wrong, I'll take it. And if we lose to them though, now it's "ND can't even beat a top team at home without their best player and starting QB". And if we win this week, and get smoked in the ACCC, it's another opportunity for the talking heads to say "see, it wasn't a real win". I guess I just wish TL was playing, and we had the chance to beat him in South Bend. Then, even if we lost in the ACCC, we'd still have a legit win nobody could "*".

 

[Whiskeyjack]

From Bill Connelly:

Travis Etienne, the ultimate checkdown

If you're playing Clemson, the odds are good that your defense is the second-best one in that given game. But that might not be the case when the Tigers visit Notre Dame on Saturday night. Clemson has battled some big-play issues and given up more than 20 points to both Syracuse and Boston College the past two weeks; it's down to 10th in defensive SP+ -- oh, the shame, the horror -- while Notre Dame ranks eighth, having given up more than 13 points only once all year.

With Trevor Lawrence still out because of his coronavirus diagnosis, Notre Dame will instead gear up to stop a Tigers offense led by D.J. Uiagalelei. The blue-chip freshman and Cam Newton clone led a huge comeback against BC last week and has completed 70% of his passes with no picks this season.

Notre Dame's defense is quite a bit better than BC's, however. The Irish force you behind schedule with negative plays -- they're second in stuff rate (run stops at or behind the line), sixth in pass pressure rate and 16th in sack rate. They force you into third-and-long situations, and they get off the field: opponents have an 11% success rate on third-and-7+, fourth-lowest in the country.

While star linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah has been every bit as good as expected (six tackles for loss, seven run stuffs), his dance partner up front, senior end Adetokunbo Ogundeji, has erupted.

Adetokunbo Ogundeji's pass rushing:
2019: 199 rushes, 9.5% pressure rate, 4.5 sacks
2020: 105 rushes, 17.1% pressure rate, 3 sacks

While only 16% of FBS receptions have gone to players out of the backfield, per Sports Info Solutions, 25% of receptions against Notre Dame fit that designation. That's typically a great thing for the Irish -- they swarm to the ball and give up only 6.1 yards per completion in these passes, far below the national average of 8.2 yards per completion.

Other teams don't have Travis Etienne, though.

Great offensive players can sometimes make you think smart defensive coaches are stupid. They make you yell things like "HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW THE BALL WAS GOING TO THAT GUY?" when they almost certainly did know. Clemson's star running back is having a perfectly solid rushing year -- he has gained 606 yards (5.9 per carry) with nine touchdowns. But he has been a cheat code in the passing game.

Virginia and Miami have smart, effective coaches and solid defenses; they knew Etienne was ultra-dangerous out of the backfield, and they probably communicated that as clearly as possible to their players. And he still caught a combined 13 balls for 187 yards and 10 first downs. A whopping 116 of those yards came after first contact.

With Uiagalelei filling in for Lawrence last week and facing a major comeback, he repeatedly found Etienne for quick, easy gains. The senior caught seven passes for 140 yards, a touchdown and five first downs.

Granted, BC, Virginia and Miami all play more man coverage than Notre Dame, which can create both lower completion rates and higher big-play rates. The Irish are content to form a quarters-coverage cloud and swarm to short completions. Maybe that will hem in Etienne, but you still have to actually bring him down when you get to him. Easier said than done.

This game represents a huge opportunity for Notre Dame. As ESPN's Seth Walder has noted, an Irish win would give them equal odds with Clemson to reach the College Football Playoff. Clemson tends to respond to losses or near-upsets like last week's BC game by laying pedal to metal for the rest of the season, but with Lawrence still out, we don't really know what kind of Tigers performance we'll see. We know that they probably will lean on Etienne, though, and that tends to pay off.

 

[IrishLion]

they actually ran a nickel defense against BC when he went out, the ND OL would eat that up you would think

You would think! But it depends on playcalling. You're not just gonna run downhill if Clemson puts a young LB out there and simplifies things by telling him to crash a specific gap on each play to clog running lanes.

You have to take advantage by using play action to beat out-of-position backups, and/or LB's that can't match up with Mayer AND Tremble on the same play. That means Tommy still has to call an A+ game, and Ian has to execute throws over the middle or to the pylons consistently... we'll see lol.

 

[NCND]

Lol at least Notre Dame is used to having a box stacked. Wonder if Clemson football players can even count to 8.

What a ignorant comment. This is why CFB fans think us ND fans are stuck up jackasses.

 

[IHateMarkMay]

i see your point, but abc, espn,fox etc will no longer have a graphic indicating the last time ND beat a #1 team is from 1993....while it may be somewhat tarnished w/out TL....it does put to bed that being a talking point.....from a recruiting perspective it helps bolster what ND is selling

If we win, the future graphic will then be "Last time ND beat a full strength #1 team".

 

[DCDomer]

Lol at least Notre Dame is used to having a box stacked. Wonder if Clemson football players can even count to 8.

Nice. Last time we only had to count to 3 so let's save these comments for Sunday AM.

 

[Irish YJ]

What a ignorant comment. This is why CFB fans think us ND fans are stuck up jackasses.

Meh. That's not why they hate ND. Comparably speaking, you should hear what GT has to say about UGA, and v/v. Or UGA and FL smack. I could go on....

They hate ND because we get thumped in big games, yet still remain in the CFP conversation. All the talk about ND "doing things the right way", while looking down on football factories, is another... The IND thing is another. I can keep going here too.

 

[RDU Irish]

Nah, bug is not squashed, just bounced off the windshield. It may not fly for a month, but it aint dead. To squash it, we'd need to beat Clemson with TL in the ACCC.

They are still a clear CFP favorite and top 3 team in the country. We have gotten bounced every single time we go up against that level of competition. Beating a true top tier team would be a first for BK, IMO. Could be nobody is beating full strength Clemson and we could end up playing them three times.