Irish roll over Tigers for 6th win in 7 games

SOUTH BEND, IND. — Prince Kollie scored on a blocked punt, Benjamin Morrison returned an interception 96 yards for a touchdown and had another interception to set up another score as Notre Dame earned its second straight win over a ranked opponent, beating No. 4 Clemson 35-14 on Saturday night.

It was just the third win over a top-10 opponent for the Fighting Irish (6-3) in their last 10 games since 2018. The other wins were against No. 8 Stanford in 2018 and top-ranked Clemson in 2020.

Just as in that 47-40 victory two years ago, fans stormed the field to celebrate. The loss ended a 14-game winning streak by the Tigers (8-1), the longest active streak among FBS teams. It was Clemson’s fifth road loss since 2015.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney pulled DJ Uiagalelei for a second straight game, even though the quarterback had completed 13 of 19 passes for 78 yards when he was replaced by Cade Klubnik late in the third quarter. This time it backfired, though, as Klubnik was pressured by Justin Ademilola and his pass was intercepted by Morrison at the 14-yard line. The Irish scored three plays later on Audric Estime’s 2-yard run to make it 21-0.

Uiagabele returned in the next series and drove the Tigers to the Irish 19-yard line before Morrison intercepted the pass to Joseph Ngata at the 4-yard line and returned it for a touchdown.

With winds of 20 mph and Drew Pyne struggling in recent games, the Irish leaned heavily on their running game, even though Clemson entered ranked seventh nationally against the run, giving up 87.9 yards a game. Logan Diggs rushed for 114 yards on 17 carries, and the Irish compiled 263 rushing yards, the most rushing yards allowed by Clemson this season. The previous high was 206 yards by Florida State.

It was the second-highest rushing game this season for the Irish, who improved to 5-0 when they run for more than 200 yards.