Irish want more after topping Clemson
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Avery Davis' dreams have been rerouted and contorted so many times, it's only fitting that when he finally stepped into them late Saturday night at Notre Dame Stadium, there was some physical pain involved.
Two overtime periods after his gamesaving, 53-yard catch set up his gametying, four-yard touchdown reception, Davis found himself in a celebratory mosh pit for the ages.
“The fans storming the field was crazy,” the former Irish quarterback, cornerback and running back and current wide receiver said of the aftermath of fourthranked Notre Dame's first takedown of a No. 1 team in 27 years, a 47-40 toppling of Clemson in double overtime.
“It's different when you see it in the movies. But when you are in there, it's kind of weird. I was getting bumped around and stuff. But I loved the energy, so it was pretty awesome at the same time.
“This is a game that is literally going to live on forever. We just made history.”
The best kind of history, the kind of moments that never fade, are the ones that represent an evolutionary step.
Saturday's extending of the nation's longest active winning streak to 13 games and the Irish's home win string of victories to 23 broke a run of 10 successive losses to top five teams. Five of those had occurred under 11th-year head coach Brian Kelly's watch.
In the post-lou Holtz Era (1997-present), Holtz successor Bob Davie won his first, a 36-20 upset of No. 5 Michigan to start the 1998 season. Then he, Tyrone Willingham, Charlie Weis and Kelly combined to go 1-18 thereafter.
Until Saturday.
“We're not celebrating because we showed the world or we changed the narrative or did this because they were the No. 1 team in the country,” Kelly said. “We did it because we proved something to ourselves, and that's really satisfying and that's what we're celebrating.”
Holtz himself was 13-8 against the top five during his 11 seasons (1986-96), but he lost his first four.
The next of four remaining regularseason games for the Irish, meanwhile, starts with a trip next Saturday to meet up with Boston College.
“We got so much more work to do and – look – BC is going to be a challenge for us,” Kelly said when pressed whether he had just witnessed two potential playoff teams squaring off at Notre Dame Stadium.
“I've got to get this football team back up, emotionally ready to play BC. We've got a target on our backs now. There are so many more things on my plate relative to what I have to do than really concern myself with playoffs and who is in and who is not in.
“There are other people that will do that, because the real challenge now is to keep this football team accelerating.”
He's right. If a special night is going to morph into a season to remember, Notre
Dame must be a better team in late November into December than it was against Clemson Saturday night.
Still there were people and numbers to behold.
Among them:
h Behind sophomore Kyren Williams' 140 yards on 23 carries and three touchdowns, Notre Dame outrushed Clemson 209-34. That's the sixth-fewest rushing yards allowed in a game in the Kelly Era.
The ACC'S all-time leading rusher, senior All-american Travie Etienne, was smothered to the tune of 28 yards on 18 carries, a career-low 1.6 yards per carry and lowest rushing total in a game in which he had 10 or more carries.
h Despite giving up more than 30 points for only the second time in Clark Lea's 33 games as Irish defensive coordinator, the Notre Dame defensive came up big in big moments.
Jeremiah Owusu-koramoah led the way with nine tackles, including 21⁄ for
2 losses. He also plucked a loose ball out of the air, after it bounced off Etienne's hands on an errant pitch, and returned it 23 yards for a score and a 20-10 Irish lead with 5:53 left in the first half.
On Clemson's next possession, he stripped the ball out of Tigers wide receiver Amari Rodgers' hands, with cornerback Nick Mccloud recovering it and the Irish cashing that in for a 45-yard Jonathan Doerer field goal.
Late in regulation, with Notre Dame down 33-26, an Irish drive stalled near midfield and Clemson took over on downs when a fourth-down pass glanced off receiver Ben Skowronek's hands.
But the defense forced a three-andout. the Irish got the ball back with 1:48 left and proceeded to go 91 yards on eight plays and 1:26 to tie the game.
In the second overtime, with Notre Dame ahead, 47-40, Adetokunbo Ogundeji and Owusu-koramoah combined to sack Clemson freshman quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei for a 10-yard loss, followed by a four-yard sack by Daelin Hayes.
An incomplete pass on third-and-24 was followed by a benign 13-yard completion that ended up with a loose ball finding its way to Mccloud again. Uiagalelei, filling in for All-american Trevor Lawrence (still in POST-COVID-19 protocol), threw for a Notre Dame opponentrecord 439 yards and 2 TDS in his second college start.
In the seconds that followed, it seemed like every one of the 11,011 spectators not wearing orange and purple spilled onto the field to revel like COVID-19 didn't exist.
h Notre Dame went 10-for-19 on third down, compared with Clemson's 4-of-15. At times it felt like Clemson's offense moved the ball so effortlessly and explosively on first and second downs, and that Notre Dame's was trying to execute death by paper cut.
Yet Notre Dame's average yards per play was actually slightly better than Clemson's (6.5 to 6.1).
“We struggled to contain their quarterback,” said Clemson coach Dabo Swinney.