Notre Dame Football: Newsome was Unsung Hero vs. Clemson

The Notre Dame football fell 30-3 to Clemson in the Cotton Bowl, but Tyler Newsome’s performance was noteworthy.

It’s hard to find a bright spot for Notre Dame football in a game that got as out of hand as the Cotton Bowl did. It didn’t take much time for the floodgates to open, but it was catastrophic when they did.

It was hard to argue that Notre Dame didn’t belong in this game for much of the first half. With a 3-3 game going into the second quarter, it looked more like a slugfest than anyone one would have expected.

In fact, for the first quarter, it was the defensive line that was the unsung hero. The Irish offense looked strong. The secondary held its own when they needed to and the front seven was able to not only pressure Trevor Lawrence, but forced him out of the pocket often as well.

The freshman only completed four of his first nine passes. After that, things went south for the Irish.

A bounce didn’t favor Notre Dame on a potential fumble recovery that would have changed the dynamic of the game. Not long after, the Irish All-American CB Julian Love suffered an injury.

While the team trainers were looking at Love, Clemson took advantage. Their three touchdowns with Love not on the field was too much to come back from.

If anyone on the Notre Dame roster succeeded at doing everything they were asked to do, it was punter Tyler Newsome.

His punting was not only phenomenal, but also gave the team a few more chances.

The first punt from Newsome started the Tigers on their own 14-yard line. In the third quarter, he was able to pin Clemson down on their two-yard line as well.

Newsome had five punts in all that forced Clemson to start inside their own 20 yard line. You couldn’t have asked for more out of the senior captain’s leg. With an average of 45.9 yards per punt, Newsome showed out. He did everything he was expected to and more, making him the unsung hero of the Cotton Bowl for Notre Dame.