The Notre Dame trip to Clemson ended up as a toss-up in the final numbers - SP+ gave the Irish a 43% expected win probability and an adjusted margin of -1.5 points. ND outgained the Tigers by nearly a yard per play, created more scoring chances, and were +1.22 in expected turnovers (only to finish [...]
The Irish physically dominated a talented Clemson team with playoff aspirations, running at will and shutting down the Tiger offense. There's already been some efforts to discount the resounding win - as if Clemson was never a real contender, or Notre Dame might not have dominated without a special teams and defensive score. But Dabo [...]
The advanced stats match the eye-test in that there was nothing cheap about this victory. The Irish went toe-to-toe with Clemson, outgaining the Tigers in yards per play overall, in the 3rd & 4th quarters, and overtime. Both teams were decently explosive, not reeling off a ton of chunk plays but each hitting two of [...]
Clemson just won the title with one of the more dominant seasons in recent memory. Nick Saban and Alabama have owned much of the decade, and been a part of every single College Football Playoff to date. Trevor Lawrence has two more seasons before he's draft eligible, Tua Tagovailoa one more. It got us thinking [...]
Notre Dame heads to Arlington, Texas to participate in the Cotton Bowl for the 8th time in school history. It's a bowl game that was once steeped in a ton of history, went through a funk for nearly two decades, and has found a rebirth in the new College Football Playoff system. In 2010, the [...]
Merry Christmas to all of our readers! Note, news broke Monday afternoon that 3 players, including Dexter Lawrence, failed drug tests due to the presence of the banned substance ostarine. It's unclear whether they will be playing in the Cotton Bowl as Clemson is appealing and hired representation for the athletes. Unless you've been living [...]
Reasonable minds may disagree but Clemson might have the perfect offense for the college game. They are one of only 2 Power 5 teams (Oklahoma being the other) to run for 3,000 yards while also passing for 3,000 yards this season. The Tigers offense is predicated on power and speed, length and agility, stressing the [...]
They've been great on paper, but they haven't faced a top-10 opponent like this in 2018. That statement applies to both the Clemson offense and Notre Dame defense, as both will raise the difficult setting considerably in the Cotton Bowl. Why Clemson's efficiency is underrated and will test Clark Lea's "bend but don't break" defense, [...]
Notre Dame and Clemson will take the field in Arlington later this month in the Cotton Bowl college football semi-final. On January 7, 2013 Notre Dame suffered an embarrassing defeat at (then named) Sun Life Stadium while a year earlier on January 4, 2012 in the same stadium Clemson suffered their own shameful loss. Slumping [...]
Few athletes receive the hype that was placed upon Clemson true freshman Trevor Lawrence. Few players have matched the hype like Lawrence has through his first season for the Tigers. Coming off a high school career that saw him shatter nearly every Georgia state passing record held by former Clemson star Deshaun Watson, the presence [...]
Wrapping up the advanced stats from Notre Dame's regular season with an eye toward Clemson - how can the Irish move the ball on the nation's top defense? The numbers provide strong evidence that it's time for Ian Book to really air it out. Irish Run Offense vs. Clemson Run Defense Running into an orange [...]
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