Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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his first attempt that set up an Irish field goal. "Then he turns it over." Down 14-3 at the half, the Irish were set to receive the ball to begin the sec- ond half. Sanders fielded the kick and attacked the middle, but then fum- bled. The Tigers recovered, and three plays later Watson had turned the mis- take into a touchdown to put Clemson ahead 21-3. Notre Dame's kickoff coverage unit — which had excelled during the sea- son's first four games — also had a rough night, allowing Clemson to av- erage 32.0 yards on its four returns. RUN GAME WOES Heading into the matchup with Clemson, the battle of the Notre Dame ground attack and the Tigers rush de- fense was arguably the most impor- tant of the game. Notre Dame entered the contest averaging 284.8 yards per game on the ground, while the stingy Tiger defense was giving up only 114.7 yards. In a battle of strengths, the Tigers won the day. Clemson held the Irish to just 116 rushing yards on 33 attempts, good for just 3.3 yards per rush. The Ti- gers were especially strong early in the game, limiting Notre Dame to just 41 rushing yards on 17 carries. Clem- son was keyed on the run the entire opening half, using aggressive inside run stunts to take away Notre Dame's power read concept that had been so successful in the season's first four games. On the power read, Clemson used its defensive end to crash inside, forc- ing sophomore quarterback DeShone Kizer to pull the ball. The outside backer to that side would then come off the edge to make a play on Kizer. With its top play neutralized and the interior of the line struggling, the Irish could not create the balance they wanted. "Give credit to Clemson. I thought they came out fresh and aggressive and made things difficult for us early on," head coach Brian Kelly noted. "We made some changes and some adjustments at halftime, and got our running game going a little bit." Notre Dame did improve in the sec- ond half, rushing for 75 yards on 16 carries. When the two teams entered the fourth quarter with the Irish trail- ing 21-3, the Irish offense was forced to In his new role as the kickoff return man, fresh- man CJ Sanders had a 46-yard return to set up an Irish field goal, but also lost a fumble that led to a Clemson touchdown. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA