Notre Dame Football: 5 Reasons Irish upset Clemson in Cotton Bowl
By Shelbie Warr
3. The Notre Dame secondary is the real deal
The Notre Dame secondary has been extraordinary and honestly it is shaping up to be what nightmares are made of for Trevor Lawrence and the Clemson offense. It’s true to some degree that whatever Clemson loses in the passing game can be made up for in the running game, but becoming one dimension is never a good thing. If the defense doesn’t get spread out because of an established passing game they will simply stack the box and be ready for Travis Etienne.
There have been quite a few times this season where they Clemson pass rush worked their tails off and it nearly didn’t matter. The Clemson pass defense got hit by Kellen Mond and company for 430 yards and three scores in Week 2. South Carolina’s Jake Bentley fired at will and put up 510 yards and five touchdowns on the Tigers. Not exactly a secondary to be proud of or one that seems to be ready for such a big stage.
On the other side, we have the Notre Dame secondary who has been nothing short of amazing all season long in low scoring game after low scoring game. The Notre Dame defense has allowed just seven touchdown passes with 12 picks on the season. They gave up two scoring throws to Virginia Tech, which was the most they allowed to anyone through the season. Over the last six games, the Irish have allowed all of two passing touchdowns and rank third in the nation in terms of defensive pass efficiency.