Leading OFF
Notre Dame wants more after historic upset of No. 1 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 on the night of Nov. 7 at Notre Dame Stadium, there was some physical pain involved.
Two overtime periods after his game-saving, 53-yard catch set up his game-tying, 4-yard touchdown reception, Davis found himself in a celebratory mosh pit.
“The fans storming the field was crazy,” the former Irish quarterback, cornerback and running back and current wide receiver said of the aftermath of fourth-ranked 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 moment that represents an evolutionary step.
The 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 11thyear head coach Brian Kelly.
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. Until now.
“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.
It was a 31-30 upending of top-ranked Miami (Florida) in 1988 that went beyond a special day and became the building block for a special, six-year dominant run by the Irish.
Notre Dame would go on to beat two more top-five teams that season, Southern California and West Virginia, to capture the school’s most recent national title.
This Irish team would likely have to beat three more top-five teams if they want their season to finish the same. That would include Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game Dec. 19 in Charlotte, North Carolina, provided the Tigers don’t slip up against their three remaining opponents.
All three are unranked, and probably the toughest of those – Virginia Tech – lost Nov. 7 at home to Liberty.
The next of four remaining regular-season games for the Irish, meanwhile, starts with a trip this weekend 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.”
Still there were people and numbers to behold:
• 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 Travis 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.
Despite giving up more than 30 points for only the second time in Clark Lea’s 33 games as Irish defensive coordinator, the defense came up big in big moments.
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah led the way with nine tackles, including 2 1⁄ for losses. He also
2 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.
Yet after Notre Dame blew the lead, the defense forced a three and out and the Irish got the ball back with 1:48 left and proceeded to go 91 yards on eight plays in 1:26 to tie the score 33-33.
In the second overtime, with Notre Dame ahead 47-40, Adetokunbo Ogundeji and OwusuKoramoah combined to sack Clemson freshman quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei for a 10-yard loss, followed by a 4-yard sack by Daelin Hayes. (Uiagalelei was filling in for All-American Trevor Lawrence, who was still in post-COVID-19 protocol.)
An incomplete pass on 3rdand-24 was followed by a benign 13-yard completion that ended up with a loose ball finding its way to McCloud again.
Notre Dame went 10-for-19 on third downs, compared with Clemson’s 4 of 15.
At times it felt as if 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. “He bought time and extended plays and made some big plays on some scrambles.”
Senior quarterback Ian Book, who threw for more than 300 yards, ran for 64 more on 14 carries and picked himself up after fumbling near the goal line late in the third quarter with the scored tied 23-23.
“(Kelly) told us – same with (offensive coordinator Tommy) Rees – this is a game that if you win, you will remember for the rest of your life,” Book said. “I kept telling myself that all day throughout every series.”
Now he wants more – the next evolutionary step and what that could turn into.