Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com JANUARY 2019 35 Dame faced, but the Irish gashed the Seminoles to the tune of 365 yards and 7.3 yards per rush. Notre Dame also racked up 272 yards against Stanford, 254 against Navy, 245 against Vanderbilt and 241 against Wake Forest. The issue is the Irish were also held to less than 100 yards by Pittsburgh, to merely 121 yards by USC and Northwestern, and 117 yards against Ball State. Advantage: Clemson NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. CLEMSON PASS DEFENSE No matchup has numbers that are more skewed than the Irish pass offense against the Clemson pass defense. On paper things look pretty even with Notre Dame ranking 31st nationally in yards per game (265.6), 21st in yards per attempt (8.3) and 30th in pass efficiency (148.60 rating). Clem- son's defense ranks 18th in yards allowed per game (183.8), 26th in yards allowed per attempt (6.3) and 16th in pass efficiency defense (110.9). For Notre Dame those numbers are skewed by the fact that senior Brandon Wimbush, who led a more rush-oriented offense, made four starts. In those contests, the Irish completed just 54.8 percent of their passes and averaged only 183.0 passing yards per game. In the eight starts made by junior Ian Book — who replaced Wimbush in the fourth game of the regular season — Notre Dame completed 69.3 percent of its passes, and averaged 8.8 yards per attempt and 306.9 passing yards per game. Those numbers would rank fifth, 12th and 13th in the country, respectively. Book ranks eighth nationally in quarterback rat- ing (162.5) and fifth in completion percentage (70.4). Clemson's numbers have been aided by playing three triple-option offenses. The Tigers held those three teams to just 163 combined passing yards. In their other 10 games, the Tigers gave up 222.6 yards per game through the air, 6.34 yards per attempt and 11.8 yards per completion. Those numbers would rank them 58th, 28th and 40th in the land, respectively. Clemson surrendered 510 passing yards against South Carolina Nov. 24 and 430 yards versus Texas A&M Sept. 8. Where Clemson thrives is with its pass rush, ranking second in the nation with 45 sacks. Senior defensive end Clelin Ferrell leads the way with 10.5 quarterback takedowns through 13 games. Advantage: Notre Dame SPECIAL TEAMS One area where the Fighting Irish hold a sig- nificant on paper advantage is on special teams. Clemson ranks 99th in the nation in special teams efficiency according to the S&P+ and 125th accord- ing to the ESPN Football Power Index. Notre Dame checks in at 44th nationally according to the FPI and 62nd according to the S&P+. Clemson senior kicker Greg Huegel ranks sixth all time in made field goals at the school (52), but he has made just 9 of 13 kicks this season. Notre Dame senior kicker Justin Yoon owns Notre Dame's all-time school record for made field goals (58) and career accuracy (80.6 percent). Senior punt returner Chris Finke ranks 22nd in the land in return average (10.3) and fifth-year senior punter Tyler Newsome is 15th in punting average (44.4). Advantage: Notre Dame COACHING Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has done a masterful job at getting the Fighting Irish back to national prominence when it comes to their on- field success. Notre Dame won at least 10 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1992- 93, and the Irish have won double-digit games in three of the last four seasons. Notre Dame now has four seasons of at least 10 wins under Kelly. Consider that from 1994-2009 the Irish reached that number just twice. What head man Dabo Swinney has done at Clemson is even better. Now in his 10th season, Swinney has compiled a 114-30 record with the Tigers, who have captured four straight Atlantic Coast Conference championships and have won at least 10 games in eight straight seasons. Advantage: Clemson INTANGIBLES Notre Dame is a veteran team in many places — like quarterback, running back and wide receiver — and the Tigers are a young team. But when it comes down to experience playing in games like this the Tigers hold a huge advantage. This will be Clemson and Swinney's fourth straight trip to the College Football Playoff. That experience is why the Tigers have the edge in this particular matchup. Advantage: Clemson GAME PREVIEW: CLEMSON Offense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. WR 5 Tee Higgins 6-4 210 So. 8 Justyn Ross 6-4 210 Fr. WR 13 Hunter Renfrow 5-10 185 Gr. 1 Trevion Thompson 6-2 205 Gr. LT 75 Mitch Hyatt 6-5 310 Sr. 79 Jackson Carman 6-5 345 Fr. LG 74 John Simpson 6-4 330 Jr. 65 Matt Bockhorst 6-4 310 R-Fr. C 50 Justin Falcinelli 6-4 315 Gr. 59 Gage Cervenka 6-3 325 R-Jr. RG 59 Gage Cervenka 6-3 325 R-Jr. or 76 Sean Pollard 6-5 315 Jr. RT 73 Tremayne Anchrum 6-2 310 Jr. 78 Chandler Reeves 6-6 295 R-So. or 72 Blake Vinson 6-4 285 R-Fr. TE 80 Milan Richard 6-3 255 Gr. 88 Braden Galloway 6-4 240 Fr. or 25 J.C. Chalk 6-3 260 R-So. or 84 Cannon Smith 6-4 270 5th-Sr. H-B 44 Garrett Williams 6-2 235 R-Jr. WR 3 Amari Rodgers 5-10 215 So. 10 Derion Kendrick 6-0 195 Fr. QB 16 Trevor Lawrence 6-6 215 Fr. 7 Chase Brice 6-2 220 R-Fr. RB 9 Travis Etienne 5-10 200 So. 28 Tavien Feaster 5-11 215 Jr. or 26 Adam Choice 5-9 220 Gr. Defense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. DE 99 Clelin Ferrell 6-4 265 R-Jr. 35 Justin Foster 6-2 260 So. DT 90 Dexter Lawrence 6-4 350 Jr. 44 Nyles Pinckney 6-1 300 R-So. 59 Jordan Williams 6-4 310 R-Fr. DT 42 Christian Wilkins 6-4 315 Gr. 67 Albert Huggins 6-3 315 Sr. DE 7 Austin Bryant 6-6 280 Sr. 3 Xavier Thomas 6-2 260 Fr. SLB/NB 11 Isaiah Simmons 6-2 230 R-So. 30 Jalen Williams 5-9 225 Gr. MLB 57 Tre Lamar 6-4 255 Jr. 36 Judah Davis 6-1 240 Gr. or 43 Chad Smith 6-3 245 Gr. WLB 34 Kendall Joseph 6-0 235 Gr. 33 J.D. Davis 6-1 230 Gr. 5 Shaq Smith 6-2 255 R-So. CB 8 A.J. Terrell 6-2 190 So. 2 Mark Fields 5-10 180 Sr. SS 12 K'Von Wallace 5-11 210 Jr. 24 Nolan Turner 6-1 205 R-So. FS 19 Tanner Muse 6-1 230 R-Jr. 14 Denzel Johnson 6-0 205 R-Jr. CB 1 Trayvon Mullen 6-1 195 Jr. 21 Kyler McMichael 6-0 200 Fr. CLEMSON DEPTH CHART Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PK 92 Greg Huegel 5-10 195 5th-Sr. 29 B.T. Potter 5-10 175 Fr. or 41 Alex Spence 6-1 205 Gr. P 48 Will Spiers 6-5 220 R-So. 97 Carson King 5-11 215 Sr. KO 29 B.T. Potter 5-10 175 Fr. 98 Steven Sawicki 6-3 240 R-Jr. LS 58 Patrick Phibbs (PK) 6-2 210 R-Jr. 52 Austin Spence (P) 6-0 200 Sr. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. H 22 Will Swinney 5-8 185 So. 48 Will Spiers 6-5 220 R-So. PR 3 Amari Rodgers 5-10 215 So. 13 Hunter Renfrow 5-10 185 Gr. or 10 Derion Kendrick 6-0 195 Fr. KR 10 Derion Kendrick 6-0 195 Fr. 26 Adam Choice 5-9 220 Gr. Special Teams