Notre Dame Football ACC Championship review: 3 studs, 3 duds

Notre Dame football vs. Clemson: 3 Duds

Here are the 3 duds from Notre Dame’s 34-10 defeat at the hands of Clemson in the ACC Championship.

Tommy Rees

The 28-year old offensive coordinator will have better days than Dec. 19, 2020, but his offense’s 10-point performance doomed Notre Dame in the ACC Championship. The Fighting Irish only mustered 263 yards of total offense, and the offensive line allowed six sacks.

Notre Dame needed more of an imaginative game plan, but that certainly was not the case on Saturday. Rees believed he could find success against a healthy Clemson defense with a weakened Notre Dame offensive line.

Shaun Crawford

Shaun Crawford was burnt once again on a deep pass on a play early in the game that seemed to swing the momentum for the Tigers. The biggest problem with his failure in the secondary is that his technique caused the issue, and as a sixth-year senior, he should not be having problems with technique.

James Skalski

Notre Dame and Clemson players were chippy from the beginning of the game, which was expected, as a rematch after a hard-fought game is bound to be filled with animosity. However, when freshman tight end Michael Mayer was hit in the head late in the game, Skalski stood over Mayer and continued to trash talk.

The play deserved two flags: one for targets and another for taunting. It was a move that completely crossed the line from competitor to classless.