The ACC Conference Championship Game Preview!

ACC: #2 Notre Dame 10-0 / 9-0 vs #3 Clemson 9-1 / 8-1; TV: 3:00 / ABC; Favorite: Clemson -10.5!

In the 1st meeting, DJ Uiagalelei (Clemson QB, who replaced Trevor Lawrence) passed for 439 yards (ran for 2 yards on 13 carries), filling in admirably in the throw game. Where the Tigers missed Lawrence was in the execution of RPO’s (run-pass option)!

In last year’s showdown (2019) with Ohio State, Lawrence passed for 259 yards (OSU’s QB Justin Fields passed for 320 yards) a good, not great number. That said, Lawrence led Clemson in rushing vs the Bucks, with 107 yards, including a 67 yard TD sprint! Brutus (OSU) held Clemson’s, all everything RB, Travis Etienne to 36 yards rushing on 10 carries (3.6 YPC), while the Irish (in their 11/7/20 meeting with Clemson) limited Etienne to 28 yards on 18 carries (1.6 YPC).

In the 1st Irish / Clemson meeting (ND 47 Clemson 40 in 2 OT’s), the Tigers were missing DT, Tyler Davis & LBs’, James Skalski & Mike Jones, they’re back and they will make a difference, how much? We will have to wait and see, yet we do not have wait to know that Lawrence will make a difference, not with his arm alone, but in conjunction with his ability to read the D and his legs!

All that said, ND is good, really good. In the 11/7 game, QB, (Ian Book passed for 310 yards) RB, (Kyren Williams, rushed for 140 yards on 23 carries, 6.1 YPC) WR, Javon McKinley (5 receptions for 102 yards, 20.4 YPR) TEs’, Michael Meyer & Tommy Tremble (8 receptions for 99 yards, 12.4 YPR) and the Irish have the best O-line in the country (save, possibility, Alabama’s).

On defense, they have Sunday talent at all three levels, LBs’ Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Drew White, along with the Irish Safety, Kyle Hamilton and DE, Daelin Hayes stopped the Clemson run game, holding the Tigers to 34 total yards on 33 carries! C’mon man, they can play!

These teams have met 5 times, with Clemson holding a 3 to 2 edge! The Irish won the 1st meeting, in 1977, 21-17, @ Clemson’s Memorial Stadium. The Tigers traveled to South Bend (1979) and returned the insult, beating the Irish on their home field, 16-10.

The teams did not play for 35 years, until renewing the series in 2015, again at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium, however, this time, the Tigers won 24-22! They lined up for a 4th time, in 2018, in the CFP Semi Final, @ Arlington TX’s, AT&T Stadium, and a decisive Clemson win, 30-3! In 2020, the series returned to Notre Dame Stadium, with the Irish avenging their 1979 home loss, winning a thriller, 47-40, in 2 overtimes!

Now, in the 6th meeting, the teams are battling for the ACC Championship, @ Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte NC! This will be ND’s 1st, and likely last, shot @ a Conference Championship; as the Irish will return to their Independent ways for the 2021 season!

Not sure why people think this game will not be close? When Clemson beat Notre Dame in 2018, by 27, they had the best defensive line in the country and maybe the best ever! Don’t forget, they beat Alabama that next week, in the CFP Final, by 28, 44-16! They were something else that year!

Sully Says: take the 10.5 and the Irish, this one will be close!

http://sullyscollegefootballpage.com/Football_Stats/Matchup.cfm

The above web address will take you to SCFP’s, Game Simulator Page, enter Clemson & Notre Dame as Home & Away team (H & A will make no difference to the calculation) and see what the numbers have to say about this game!

And as Always, Enjoy the Games!