Players Of The Game From The Notre Dame Victory Over Clemson

Notre Dame earned an impressive 47-40 victory over Clemson, giving the fourth-ranked Fighting Irish a huge win over the top-ranked Tigers.

When a team beats the No. 1 ranked team in the country it requires a number of big plays and standouts, which makes narrowing it down to just three or four players extremely difficult. There were three players that stood above the rest in the victory.

OFFENSE - Ian Book, Quarterback

Stats: 23-39, 59.0%, 310 yards, 1 TD / 64 rush yards

There were several deserving players of the game, but I’m going with Book. He had impressive statistics, but him getting the player of the game honor has as much to do with how he led as it does with his production.

Book was far from perfect, but what made this without a doubt the best game of his career was how he competed. Book kept battling throughout the game, and he was aggressive attacking the Tigers. He took a number of shots downfield, threw with conviction and made plays with his legs on runs and throwing on the move.

His third quarter fumble into the end zone was a huge blow to the Irish, and he was unable to lead the offense to a score after Clemson tied the game at 26. After Clemson took a 33-26 lead late in the fourth quarter it seemed the Irish were going to once again fall short, but Book overcome those mistakes and stepped up big on the final drive, hitting wide receiver Avery Davis for a 53-yard gain that set up his 4-yard scoring pass to Davis to tie the game, sending it into overtime.

Book was good in the overtime period, leading the Irish to scores on both of its OT possessions.

Runners Up: RB Kyren Williams; WR Avery Davis; WR Javon McKinley, TE Tommy Tremble

DEFENSE - Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Linebacker

Stats: 9 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 1 touchdown

After missing two tackles on a drive that allowed Clemson to get back in the game, Owusu-Koramoah responded with two game-changing plays on the next two drives. With the Irish up just 13-10, Owusu-Koramoah exploded off the edge, quickly re-routed after he saw the outside run and closed extremely well on the pitch play. When running back Travis Etienne bobbled the ball, Owusu-Koramoah snatched it out of the air and then ran it back for a touchdown.

On the ensuing drive, Owusu-Koramoah got beat on a third-down slant play, but he ended up stripping the ball from the receiver, giving the Irish the ball. Notre Dame’s offense responded with a field drive, which meant Owusu-Koramoah’s huge plays took a 13-10 game and quickly made it a 23-10 game.

The Irish linebacker was all over the field, and his impact plays and range played a major role in the upset victory.

Runners Up: DE Daelin Hayes, DT Kurt Hinish

SPECIAL TEAMS - Jack Lamb, Linebacker

Stats: 4 tackles

Punter/holder Jay Bramblett’s open field tackle of Travis Etienne was arguably the biggest special teams play of the game, but it was junior linebacker Jack Lamb that was the star of the special teams. Lamb had an outstanding four tackles on the kickoff team, and that included tackles that pinned Clemson at its own 11-yard line, 12-yard line and 15-yard line.

———————

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

Add us as a preferred source on Google