Notre Dame Offense Must Pull Its Weight Against Clemson

Notre Dame will get a chance to earn a much needed “elite win” this weekend when Clemson comes to town. We aren’t talking about beating a Top 10 team that is being overhyped early in the season based on preseason hype (see Stanford, 2018), but a bonafide national title contender.

The last time Notre Dame beat a team that finished the season ranked in the Top 10 was all the way back in 2013, when they knocked off Michigan State, who finished that season 13-1. Since then, the Irish have gone 0-9 against opponents that finished ranked in the Top 10. A big part of the struggle has been the program’s inability to have both sides of the ball playing at a high level together.

Notre Dame’s defense was the primary culprit during the first six losses to Top 10 opponents (2013-16), but it has absolutely been the offense that held the Irish down in the last three matchups (2017-19) against Top 10 opponents.

Let’s look at the numbers.

Following the 2013 victory over Michigan State, the Notre Dame offense averaged 25.7 points per game, 428.7 yards per game and 6.2 yards per play in the next six games against opponents that finished in the Top 10 of the national rankings. That stretch began with a 2013 loss to Oklahoma and ended with a 2016 loss to USC.

In the last three games against opponents that finished in the Top 10 (2017-19), Notre Dame has averaged just 13.0 points per game, 274.7 yards per game and 4.0 yards per play. After rushing for 177.0 yards per game in the first six losses, the offense averaged just 63.0 yards per game in the last three.

If Notre Dame scored 24 points in each of its matchups against its last three Top 10 opponents the Irish would have two wins over Georgia on its resume.

The Irish defense has played exceptional football in the team’s 12-game win streak. During that stretch, the Notre Dame defense held opponents to just 11.3 points per game, 271.0 yards per game and 4.3 yards per play.

Against Clemson, the defense must keep doing what it has been doing. If the Irish are going to pull off this upset, the offense will need to step up and pull its weight. That will be the recipe to success against the No. 1 Tigers.

———————

Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content, our premium message board and gets you a FREE subscription to Sports Illustrated! Click on the link below for more

BECOME A MEMBER

Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!

Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes.
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Follow me on Parler: @BryanDriskell
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook

Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter