Notre Dame Football: ACC Championship top 3 storylines vs. Clemson

Can Notre Dame football dominate the line of scrimmage again?

One of the biggest reasons Notre Dame was able to hang with, and ultimately win the first meeting was their ability to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

From the second play of the game, where running back Kyren Williams took an outside handoff 65-yards to the house, to the final series of the second overtime, where the defense registered back-to-back sacks, the big boys flat out dominated Clemson all night.

By the time half of Notre Dame’s campus was not practicing social distancing on the field, the Irish accounted for 208 rushing yards and averaged over five yards per attempt while holding Clemson to an incredible 34 rush yards on 33 carries. Travis Etienne’s 28 rushing yards remains the fourth-lowest single-game rushing output in his career and the lowest for a game where he had 10+ rushing attempts.

Defensively, that seemed to be the gameplan. Instead of trying to contain all of Clemson’s weapons, they completely eliminated one of their best in Etienne and made the offense one dimensional. Offensively, the ability to run the ball early in the game allowed Notre Dame to chew the clock, keep the game close, and keep the pace and speed of the game how they wanted.

The big question is will that same domination show up in the trenches again for the Irish on Saturday.

Notre Dame will already be at a slight disadvantage with center Jarrett Patterson out for the season with a broken foot suffered vs Boston College. Sophomore Zeke Correll will take his place, a player who made his first career start vs North Carolina the following week.

Additionally, Clemson will be getting back linebackers James Skalski and Mike Jones Jr. as well as defensive tackle Tyler Davis, who all missed the first matchup due to injury. While this swing in available personnel might suggest Clemson has the advantage, at the end of the day, Notre Dame has nearly an entire offensive line of NFL-caliber players who are all multi-year starters.

They are going to give Clemson’s defensive line fits and allow Kyren Williams to find holes. The bigger question in my opinion will be Notre Dame’s defensive line getting penetration and plugging up run holes like we saw in the first matchup. Eliminating Etienne is going to be a critical aspect of winning this game, and it is going to take a complete effort from the defensive front.

Also, despite the stellar run defense in the first meeting, the only sacks of the game for the Irish came in the 2nd overtime. More consistent pressure and backfield disruption in the passing game would be huge to slow down the Tigers’ offense.