The showdown between Notre Dame and BYU on Saturday didn’t need any convincing to get both teams even more hyped. Still, Cougars linebacker Jake Clifton might have just turned the dial up to 11.
Clifton addressed the media on Wednesday after the latest BYU practice and probably didn’t think he was giving the Fighting Irish any bulletin board material. Still, his comments about how he believes his team needs to approach CJ Carr on Saturday night will likely draw attention from Notre Dame’s offensive linemen.
“Yeah, just get that guy uncomfortable,” Clifton said about Carr. “He has some studs in front of him at O-line. These guys are bigger than what we've seen, right? These guys have played in some top-10 matchups in their time. Get this guy off the spot, make him uncomfortable and give him a little elbow every now and then. Make sure that he knows that you're going to be there all game.”
That “little elbow” comment, more than any other BYU coach or player has made this week, could draw a bullseye on Clifton. Notre Dame linemen won’t like hearing that a defender is letting their quarterback know he’ll “be there all game” either.
Jake Clifton gives Notre Dame football bulletin-board material with CJ Carr comments
What Clifton said isn’t out of bounds by any stretch; it’s just the kind of thing usually kept in-house. That he’s allowed them to go public means Notre Dame will almost certainly look more closely at everything he and his defensive teammates do, especially if a hit is ever a little late or seems a bit too hard in the moment.
For his part, Clifton also made it clear that he and his teammates respect Notre Dame while also making sure they don't treat Saturday’s Top 10 matchup like anything special.
“I think every guy and every coach has come up here and said that this is a routine game. Obviously, we respect these guys a lot. This is a program that's known to put dudes in the NFL, and they stay there for quite a while. So obviously, this quarterback is obviously in the Heisman run for a reason. And they have three running backs that can do the job. They have a tight end that left last year and went to the NFL. He was a beast, but there's two other guys coming in to fill his spot and do just as good as he did. So overall as a team, you can't do anything but respect them, and that's it.”
Clifton likely knows he and his defensive teammates will also be leaned on more than usual, since the Cougars’ best running back, LJ Martin, is out.
Clifton is fourth on the team with 15 tackles and second on the Cougars with 1.5 sacks. The linebacker, who transferred from Kansas State this fall, made comments that are far from outrageous. Still, the defender almost certainly drew a bullseye on himself just before the game against Notre Dame.
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