Keys To Victory For The Notre Dame Defense vs. Clemson
The fourth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-0) take on the top-ranked Clemson Tigers (7-0) tonight in what is the latest opportunity for the program to earn a big win.
Notre Dame has the talent and tools to earn the victory, but it must play well in all facets of the game. We already broke down the keys for the Irish offense, now let’s take a look at the keys to victory for the Notre Dame defense.
1. Shut Down Travis Etienne — With quarterback Trevor Lawrence out, senior running back Travis Etienne becomes an even more important part of the Clemson offense. Freshman quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei is extremely talented, but Notre Dame needs to put the game completely on his shoulders.
Keeping Etienne in check is the foundational aspect of building a game plan that keeps Clemson's points down, and the key to the defense doing its part to win the game.
Clemson ranks 11th in rushing offense this season, and Etienne is currently averaging under 90 rush yards per game, and his 5.9 yards per carry is by far the lowest total of his career. Notre Dame must dominate at the point of attack and keep Etienne from doing any damage in the run game.
Accomplishing that is just step one. While Etienne's rushing totals are down, he's been a difference maker in the pass game. Shutting him down in the run game but allowing him to go off in the pass game (he's got two 100+ yard receiving games) will still be damaging to the Irish defense.
2. Win On Early Downs — Part of slowing down Etienne and also putting more pressure on Uiagalelei is winning on first and second down. That means short gains/no gains and negatives, which puts Clemson in more 2nd-and-8+ situations and 3rd-and-long situations.
If Clemson is able to stay on schedule and keep its running game active, its screen game a key part of the offense, and also gets in 2nd-and-short situations that make its play-action game so much more effective it could be a long day for the Notre Dame defense.
The reverse of that, obviously, is Notre Dame will be able to better key on attacking and confusing the talented first-year quarterback when the Tiger offense gets off schedule.
3. Confusion Is A Must … For Clemson — Notre Dame's defense needs to keep doing what it has been all season, and that is 11 guys playing together, playing fast and playing sound football. If defensive coordinator Clark Lea can get his unit to do that while also showing a lot more looks at the rookie quarterback the Irish defense can win this matchup.
Just pinning your ears back and blitzing the young quarterback all game might work early, but it exposes your defense to giving up big plays. Clemson's offensive staff, which is led by coordinator Tony Elliott, is also really good and really smart, and eventually they'll make the adjustments needed to beat the Irish blitz.
Lea needs to be diverse, limit tendencies and keep Uiagalelei guessing. That means showing blitz and bringing blitz, it means showing blitz and dropping, it means showing blitz to one side and bringing it from the other, it means showing off coverage and then coming down, it means showing tight coverage and bailing, it means mixing up coverage looks and getting underneath the intermediate throws that were so effective against Boston College.
The more Uiagalelei guesses about what Notre Dame is doing the more opportunities there will be for the Irish defense to make stops, and make game-changing plays.
4. Limit Big Plays — Clemson is going to get some big plays in this game, but Notre Dame needs to keep them in the 20+ range, avoid the 40+ plays and not allowing the long scoring plays.
The more plays Clemson must run on each drive the better, because it creates more opportunities for the Irish defense to make stops and make the big plays needed to get Clemson off the field.
We saw this play out in 2018. The Irish defense played very well in that game with one exception, it allowed too many big plays. Stop those and the defense can give this football team a chance to win.
5. Stars Must Play Like Stars — Just like I said on offense, your strengths and your best players must shine in games like this. Notre Dame needs linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, safety Kyle Hamilton and its talented defensive line to be at their best in this contest.
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