Notre Dame saw its dreams of an undefeated season fall apart in Death Valley on Saturday night, falling to Clemson 24-22. The Irish turned the ball over four times, had many costly dropped passes and were handicapped by perplexing play-calling, which combined to cost them the game. The Irish offensive line was also exposed as they could not open up holes for C.J. Prosise until late in the second half. Brian Kelly and the coaching staff also failed to make adjustments offensively, rarely passing on first down to create space despite consistently being stuffed on first down runs. The following players stood out in an otherwise disappointing game for the Irish:
DeShone Kizer
The Irish quarterback did a very solid job in his first road start in a very hostile environment. Despite many crucial drops by his receivers and the complete lack of a run game, Kizer gave the Irish a chance to win. Kizer kept many plays alive with his feet, finding receivers downfield after scrambling and led the team in rushing with 60 yards and a touchdown. The Ohio native also threw for 321 yards and two touchdowns versus the Tigers, but would have been over 400 yards passing if not for drops.
C.J. Prosise
Although it was not his best game Notre Dame’s number one running back had a solid showing versus Clemson. Prosise ran for only 50 yards on 15 carries, although that was no fault of his as the offensive line’s play was poor. However, Prosise made up for his struggles on the ground by making plays in the passing game. He led the Irish in receiving with four catches for 100 yards and a touchdown.
Max Redfield
Seemingly close to fully healed from a hand injury Redfield was steady at his safety spot. The junior led the Irish defense in tackles with 14 and had more solo tackles (11) than any other member of the Irish defense had total tackles. Redfield supported well in run defense and was crucial to the Irish preventing big plays in the passing game.
Cole Luke
Luke was another key player in limiting the Tigers to 97 yards passing. The junior corner also had a critical interception late in the third quarter to give the Irish life and start their rally. Luke also showed flashes of potential blitzing to combine with his solid cover ability. The Arizona native had two tackles to go with his interception.
Max Redfield may well have “arrived” on Saturday. We’ll get a second glimpse on Saturday against our permanent opponent Navy.
Redfield is an odd duck, with his predilection for a career in the CIA and he reacts to things like a wrist injury with an approach different from the average football player.
But that may be his past now and he may be ready to show the promise he hinted at in the Spring.
Sebastian may be back for the November run and we may well need Sebastian for Stanford.
That come back would of been one the best in recent history for my beloved Fightin Irish. In my heart I thought they were going to pull it off but it wasn’t meant to be. Kizer was impressive when he stayed in the pocket without panicking. I’m proud that they never gave up. It’s a long season, we will see what’s in store. Kill USC…Go Irish!!
A disappointing game. I suspect the reason BK and co. kept trying to run the ball was the wet conditions. There were some dropped catches that seemed more due to the wet ball than anything else. I’m not one to make excuses and Clemson faced the same conditions, but I also have to be realistic. It seemed the coaching staff was allowing itself to be too impacted by the rainy conditions. But they should have made adjustments when things didn’t seem to be working. BK’s earlier 2 point conversion call appears questionable now, but at that time in the game (without the benefit of hindsight) I actually agreed with the call so I can’t fault BK too much for that. Looking at the point spread and at what we needed to win it made sense, at least from a mathematical point of view.
The main thing I take away is the team did not give up. They did fight to the end. That is a significant change from the Weis era. If the Irish were down 21-3 during the Weis era, they probably would have lost 35-3 instead of 24-22. I credit the current coaching staff to instilling that never say die attitude. But it’s still a loss that could have been a win. Hopefully the team will learn from that and move forward. While a playoff spot seems unlikely now (though not impossible), a NY Day 6 bowl is still very much in the cards for this team if they take care of business.
Kizer and the Irish kept coming back in that 4th quarter. A Brown fumble , Kizer interception killed drives , yet Irish did not give up. ND defense was finally clamping down on Watson. A Montana like miracle finish was happening. I didn’t like the QB keeper call for the tie–but there was a hole briefly with Kizer following behind lead blocker Prosise. It wasn’t to be. Go Irish
What’s most confusing to me is the utter failure on the part of Kelly/Sanford to spread the defense out. What happened to the guy that calls 20 bubble screens in a game to force a stacked box wide? Did he honestly believe that his O line was good enough to bully Clemson’s D into submission without establishing zone play? After a full half of failed running, they still don’t make adjustments?
They ran one screen and two wheel routes for over 100 yards and a touchdown. But that’s all they ran that works to spreading the D. No swing passes. Nothing else to prevent the DEs and OLBs from pinning their ears back, or stifling the blitzing inside.