Notre Dame Football: Defensive position grades vs. Clemson

Notre Dame outlasted the No. 1 team in the country last night, taking down Clemson 47-40 in double overtime. Let’s take a look at the defensive position grades from the instant classic.

The fact that fans weren’t charged for that roller coaster of a game Saturday makes Notre Dame’s win that much sweeter. After what has literally been decades, Notre Dame football finally showed up on the big stage and knocked off the No. 1 team in the country.

Going into the game, it was generally assumed the Irish were going to have to play almost a perfect game in all three phases to have a shot of taking down the Tigers. The encouraging takeaway from Saturday night is that they did not play a perfect game by any means, yet still found a way to come out on top.

Defensively, it’s been no secret that Clark Lea’s unit has been the backbone of the team this season. Coming into last night’s contest, Notre Dame’s defense was giving up just over 10 points/game and boasted one of the top run defenses in the country.

Even without quarterback Trevor Lawrence taking snaps for Clemson, the Tigers’ offense still boasted plenty of firepower. The Irish would have to contain the arm of freshman quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei, the legs of the all-time leading rusher in the ACC Travis Etienne, and the hands of Amari Rodgers.

With the help of a few timely turnovers and late-game sacks, Notre Dame did just enough of each to come away with a potentially program-changing win and get the “can’t win a big game” monkey off their back.

Let’s take a look at the defensive position grades from last night: