Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1510995
20 NOV. 18, 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Items: Shrader made his second field goal of the game to make it a 10-6 Clemson lead with 13:34 left until halftime … Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik's best moments came when he diced up the Notre Dame defense go- ing 6-of-6 passing for 59 yards and a touchdown on a drive that made it 17-6 Clemson with 9:11 left until halftime … Shrader made a third kick in the first half from 23 yards out after Hartman sailed a pass on third-and-goal from the 5-yard line. THIRD QUARTER CLEMSON 31, NOTRE DAME 23 Top Moment: Notre Dame senior safety Xavier Watts snagged his na- tion-leading seventh interception on a tip on the third play from scrimmage in the second half and returned it to the Clemson 2-yard line. Estimé scored one play later to give the Irish life. Feature Performer: Mafah ran 10 times for 47 yards. It became clear Clemson was ready to try to pound Notre Dame into submission. Stats: Notre Dame outgained Clem- son 101 to 82 in total yards. The Irish averaged 10.1 yards per play to the Ti- gers' 3.7. Items: Hartman scored a 26-yard touchdown on a scramble … Notre Dame started its final two drives of the quarter, the second of which over- lapped into the fourth quarter, inside its own 10-yard line. FOURTH QUARTER CLEMSON 31, NOTRE DAME 23 Top Moment: Notre Dame forced and recovered a fumble with 1:47 left, trailing be eight. The Irish still had two timeouts but the drive stalled on their own 42. Feature Performer: Mafah had 15 carries for 52 yards with Clemson still trying to run its way to a victory. Stats: Notre Dame outgained Clem- son 41 to 39 in total yards. The Irish averaged 2.2 yards per play to the Ti- gers' 2.1. Items: Clemson punted from near midfield three times. The Irish's av- erage starting field position on the ensuing trio of drives was their own 9-yard line; the Irish punted twice, and Hartman was intercepted on the third drive. ✦ CLEMSON 31, NOTRE DAME 23 Nov. 4, 2023 ✦ Attendance: 81,500 Memorial Stadium ✦ Clemson, S.C. 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Notre Dame 3 6 14 0 23 Clemson 10 14 7 0 31 ND CLEM FIRST QUARTER ND Shrader 43-yard field goal 10:36 3 0 Drive: 7 plays, 50 yards, 4:24 CLEM Mafah 41-yard run (Weitz kick) 6:57 3 7 Drive: 1 play, 41 yards, 0:07 CLEM Weitz 21-yard field goal 2:08 3 10 Drive: 7 plays, 18 yards, 2:26 SECOND QUARTER ND Shrader 30-yard field goal 13:34 6 10 Drive: 8 plays, 63 yards, 3:34 CLEM Brown 9-yard pass from Klubnik (Weitz kick) 9:11 6 17 Drive: 9 plays, 75 yards, 4:23 CLEM Trotter 28-yard interception return (Weitz kick) 8:33 6 24 ND Shrader 23-yard field goal 1:32 9 24 Drive: 12 plays, 60 yards, 7:01 THIRD QUARTER ND Estimé 2-yard run (Shrader kick) 13:57 16 24 Drive: 1 play, 2 yards, 0:04 CLEM Mafah 1-yard run (Weitz kick) 8:08 16 31 Drive: 11 plays, 75 yards, 5:49 ND Hartman 26-yard run (Shrader kick) 6:05 23 31 Drive: 4 plays, 74 yards, 1:56 ND CLEM Total First Downs 13 19 Rushing 5 11 Passing 8 6 Penalty 0 2 Rushing Attempts 31 43 Yards Gained Rushing 200 213 Yards Lost Rushing 17 37 Net Yards Rushing 183 176 Net Yards Passing 146 109 Passes Attempted 30 26 Passes Completed 13 13 Had Intercepted 2 1 Percent Completion 43.3% 50.0% Yards Per Attempt 4.9 4.2 Yards Per Completion 11.2 8.4 Total Offensive Plays 61 69 Total Net Yards 329 285 Average Gain Per Play 5.4 4.1 Fumbles: No.-Lost 1-1 3-1 Penalties: No.-Yards 5-40 0-0 Punts: No.-Yards 6-301 7-302 Average Per Punt 50.2 43.1 Average Net Punt 40.7 43.1 Punt Returns: No.-Yards 2-0 6-57 Kickoff Returns: No.-Yards 1-26 1-15 Interception Returns: No.-Yards 1-33 2-43 Fumble Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 0-0 Miscellaneous Yards 0 0 Possession Time 28:12 31:48 Third-Down Conversions 3-13 5-15 Percentage 23.1% 33.3% Fourth-Down Conversions 0-1 0-1 Percentage 0.0% 0.0% Sacks By: No.-Yards 1-11 2-13 Junior running back Phil Mafah torched the Fighting Irish for a career-high 186 yards rushing and scored 2 touchdowns, including a 41-yarder in the first quarter that gave Clemson a 7-3 lead. The Tigers never trailed after that. PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP