CLEMSON, S.C. – The No. 12/12 University of Notre Dame football team’s (7-3) second-half rally fell short on Saturday afternoon inside Memorial Stadium, falling to Clemson (5-4) by the score of 31-23. The Irish rallied down 24-9 at the half to cut it to one possession to start the fourth, but the Tigers special teams won the battle of field position, pinning the Notre Dame offense within its own 10-yard line on three occasions.
Notre Dame won the turnover battle 3-2 and produced more total yards, 329 to Clemson’s 285, but ultimately struggled to find a rhythm offensively. Sam Hartman finished 13-of-30 for 146 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, while also picking up 68 rushing yards on seven carries. Audric Estime was Notre Dame’s leading rusher and receiver on the day with 120 all-purpose yards, including one rushing touchdown.
Junior safety Xavier Watts continued his hot stretch of the season with his third straight game with an interception (five interceptions in that span) and nation-leading seventh overall. Watts also finished with three tackles.
Defensive lineman Rylie Mills notched eight total tackles and a key fumble recovery. Linebacker Jack Kiser led the defensive unit with nine total tackles on Saturday.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Audric Estime set the tone on the opening drive, busting out back-to-back rushes of 23 and 25 yards, respectively. That ultimately set up a successful 43-yard field goal by Spencer Shrader to get the Irish on the board early.
At 7:04 in the first quarter, Notre Dame found itself punting out of its own endzone as Clemson returned the punt 15 yards to the Irish 41-yard line. On the very next play, Clemson running back Phil Mafa took to the house for the touchdown and the 7-3 lead.
Fast forward to 4:34 on the clock and the Irish defense forced a three-and-out but then muffed the catch on the ensuing punt, allowing the Tigers to start on the Notre Dame 22-yard line. On a third-and-goal, Notre Dame’s DJ Brown made a tremendous diving PBU to prevent a touchdown and force Clemson to settle for a field goal and keep it a one-possession game at 10-3.
Sam Hartman injected some energy into the Irish before the end of the first quarter with a 38-yard rush. That eventually set up another successful field goal from Shrader, this time from 30 yards.
Clemson got its passing game going on the next drive, netting 75 yards on nine plays over 4:23. The game then turned quickly for the Irish as a few moments later the Tigers recorded a pick-six to make it 24-6 at 8:33 in the second.
Notre Dame then found some life in its passing game as Hartman completed a 21-yard pass to Chris Tyree, followed shortly by a 22-yarder to Estime which brought the football to the Clemson three-yard line. Yet, the Irish couldn’t punch it in and settled for their third field goal of the half, which ultimately took us to our halftime score of 24-9, Tigers.
Right when the Irish needed some magic to kick off the second half, especially with Clemson starting with the football, insert defensive sparkplug Xavier Watts. For the third consecutive game, the junior safety recorded an interception, returning it 33 yards to the Clemson two. Estime then punched it in for the two-yard score to cut it to 24-16.
However, the comeback was stymied as Clemson came back out with an 11-play, 75-yard drive, to push it back to two possessions at 31-16 with 8:08 on the clock in the third.
Notre Dame then responded swiftly with a four-play, 74-yard drive, which was capped by a Hartman 26-yard rush for the score.
The entirety of the fourth quarter was a battle of field position and Clemson gave Notre Dame trouble by pinning the Irish within their own 10-yard line to start multiple drives. The Irish did get the ball back down 31-23 still with 3:16 remaining, but again, they started on their own six-yard line.
After getting one first down, Hartman coughed up an interception. The Irish defense gave the offense one more chance as Gabriel Rubio forced a fumble with Rylie Mills garnering the recovery. Unfortunately, the offense couldn’t find its rhythm as Clemson secured the 31-23 victory.
– ND –