No. 15-ranked Notre Dame football couldn’t overcome its first-half woes at Clemson on Saturday, falling 31-23 for its third loss of the regular season.
The Irish (7-3) trailed by 15 points at halftime and committed three turnovers — two on offense and one on special teams.
Inside ND Sports dives deeper into two matchups that Clemson won head-to-head against Notre Dame.
Clemson running back Phil Mafah vs. Notre Dame’s run defense
Notre Dame’s defense got punched in the mouth by Clemson in the first half. Offensive coordinator Garrett Riley dialed up scoring drives that went for 41 yards and 75 yards, and the consistent focal point in both was running back Phil Mafah. The junior finished with a career-high 186 yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries.
Without injured starting running back Will Shipley, Clemson committed to the run game, and it paid off. Mafah averaged 5.2 yards per carry and had runs of 14, 16 and 21 yards in addition to his 41-yard touchdown.
Mafah took advantage of safety DJ Brown‘s overpursuit on a designed blitz for his first score, and showed patience behind Clemson’s offensive line. Defensive tackles Rylie Mills and Howard Cross III combined for only one tackle for loss.
Notre Dame wide receivers vs. Clemson secondary
Special teams play was under consideration due to Clemson’s forced turnover against Chris Tyree on a punt return, Hamp Greene‘s consistency as the Tigers’ punt returner and Aidan Swanson’s ball placement on multiple punts.
But ND’s passing game was consistently underwhelming. Since the bye week, head coach Marcus Freeman has been adamant that Notre Dame’s offense needed to incorporate deep shots to its receivers downfield. The aggressiveness wasn’t there in offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Gerad Parker’s play-calling. The Tigers were never called for a pass interference and kept most of Notre Dame’s completions in front of them.
Clemson’s defensive back unit was down two starters, cornerback Sheridan Jones and safety Jalyn Phillips, but that didn’t stop the Tigers from holding Notre Dame’s wide receivers in check.
In the first half, only two Irish wide receivers had receptions: Tyree and Tobias Merriweather. They combined for 29 yards. Jaden Greathouse was targeted twice in that span, but quarterback Sam Hartman didn’t connect with him on either throw.
The wide receivers failed to create much separation on plays other than Rico Flores Jr.’s designed crossing route in the third quarter that went for 35 yards, which was Notre Dame’s longest completion of the game. Notre Dame’s performance on the outside was reminiscent of its performance in a 33-20 loss at Louisville on Oct. 7, and is an area of beeded improvement with two games remaining in the regular season.
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