Grading Notre Dame Football: Report card in loss to Clemson
The Notre Dame Football team suffered a rather stunning loss to a reeling Clemson Tigers team. Let’s see how everyone performed and graded out.
The Notre Dame Football team came into Saturday flying high and thinking they were destined for a New Year’s Six Bowl Game. I’d love to say that the Irish ran into a buzzsaw in the Clemson Tigers, but in fact, that is the opposite of what head coach Dabo Swinney’s team was before Saturday.
Things were going so bad that Tyler from Spartanburg asked the once-popular head coach whether it might be time to move on. It turns out that question from a Clemson fan might have lit a fire under the Tigers. They certainly looked like the better team almost from the get-go on Saturday.
Here is our Notre Dame Football report card from a bad, bad loss in Death Valley.
Notre Dame Football passing offense: F
The man was that brought into South Bend to take the Irish to the next level has simply not done that this season. On Saturday, Sam Hartman had arguably his worst game as a member of the Notre Dame Football team, perhaps showing why he is now 0-5 in his career against Clemson.
Hartman completed just 13-of-30 passes for 146 yards, 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Hartman’s performance wasn’t the only reason the passing game got an F grade. For what seems like the 100th time this season, the Fighting Irish’s wide receivers simply didn’t step up.
Notre Dame’s leading receiver was Audric Estime who had 4 catches for 33 yards. Rico Flores led all receivers in yards with 1 catch for 35 yards. We knew having Mitchell Evans out was going to be a problem, but literally no one stepped forward to take over for him.
Notre Dame Football rushing offense: B
We’re tempted to give this grade an incomplete, because Notre Dame went down 24-9 in the blink of an eye and the Fighting Irish had to abandon the run game. They had a great start against a stout Clemson rush defense, rushing for 101 yards in the first quarter.
However, the Golden Domers only had 77 yards on the ground the rest of the way. Audric Estime had 87 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown, as well as a run on Notre Dame Football’s first drive that looked like a pace setter as he hurdled two tacklers. Hartman showed he can hurt people with his legs as he ran for 61 yards and a TD as well.
But everything shut down in the second half due to having to throw constantly.
Notre Dame Football Passing Defense: A
One of the best pass defenses in the country once again showed why they’ve risen to those ranks. The Notre Dame Football team held Cade Klubnik to 13-of-26 passing for 109 yards, 1 TD and 1 interception.
Clemson’s longest pass of the day was just 18 yards and Xavier Watts continued his insane season with an interception and a 33-yard return that set up an Irish score. The pass defense should have been enough to get Notre Dame the win.
Notre Dame Football Rushing Defense: F
Clemson starting running back Tyler Shipley was ruled out shortly before kickoff and that should have been a big boon for the Irish. Instead, his backup, Phil Mafah absolutely exploded onto the scene.
Mafah had 36 carries for 186 yards and 2 touchdowns. That included a 41-yard TD run that gave the Tigers a 7-3 lead and set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.
Mafah has gotten some decent playing time this year, so it’s not like this was a totally green player running all over the Irish, but Saturday was a career-high for rushing yards in a game, and just the second time in his career he’s topped 100 yards.
Notre Dame Football Special Teams: F
Anytime a player fumbles a punt, we’re going to give the unit an F grade unless they make up for it with a kick return TD. Chris Tyree muffed the punt. He didn’t show the explosiveness he did against Pittsburgh. That muffed punt led to another Tigers score to put Notre Dame Football further behind.
Notre Dame Football Coaching: F
If there was a letter grade worse than F, we’d go with that. Maybe a G? The Irish are just a bad team on the road and that’s on the coaching. That’s especially the case on offense and it seems likely that Gerad Parker is back on the hot seat.
Give Notre Dame Football credit for getting back into the game and getting within eight in the second half, but and offense that looked stagnant couldn’t generate a single score in the fourth period.