Despite Notre Dame giving its best attempt at a comeback, Clemson ultimately held on to upset the Irish 31-23 at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
Notre Dame struck first with a field goal, but on the Tigers’ second offensive drive, running back Phil Mafah ran untouched for a 41-yard touchdown to give Clemson (5-4, 4-4 ACC) a 7-3 lead at the 6:57 mark in the first quarter. Mafah’s touchdown was the first time the Tigers had scored in the first quarter since their game against Syracuse on Sept. 30.
Shortly after Mafah’s score, Philip Florenzo recovered a Notre Dame fumble on a muffed punt, setting up a 21-yard field goal by Jonathan Weitz to give Clemson a 10-3 lead at the 2:08 mark in the first quarter. Notre Dame then responded with a field goal of its own before Cade Klubnik connected with wide receiver Tyler Brown for a nine-yard touchdown, giving the Tigers a 17-6 lead at the 9:11 mark in the second quarter.
That 11-point lead was extended to 18 when Clemson linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. intercepted quarterback Sam Hartman for a 24-yard pick six, giving the Tigers a commanding 24-6 lead with 8:33 left in the second quarter.
From that point forward, the Irish (7-3) attempted a comeback, surging back from an 18-point deficit with the help of two Clemson turnovers and bringing the game within one score on two separate occasions.
Nevertheless, Clemson’s defense helped Clemson hold on and come away with the victory. Wes Goodwin’s unit forced three turnovers on the day, including an interception by defensive back Kylon Griffin that ended a Notre Dame drive at the 1:58 mark in the fourth quarter.
In a game that came down to the final few minutes, Mafah and Trotter were the difference makers.
Starting in place of the injured Will Shipley, Mafah finished with a career-high 186 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 36 attempts. Mafah’s second score of the day came on a 1-yard rush in the third quarter, giving Clemson a 15-point cushion.
Trotter, meanwhile, finished with a team-high 11 total tackles, two sacks and one interception.
When it was all said and done, Trotter and the Tigers’ defense held Notre Dame to 3 of 13 on third down attempts. Clemson also stopped the Irish on their only fourth down attempt, a fourth-and-10 play late in the fourth quarter that ended up giving the Tigers the ball back and sealed the win.
As for Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik, he completed 13 of 26 pass attempts for 109 yards, one touchdown and one interception. After the game, the sophomore signal-caller walked into the media room and immediately yelled, “Come on!”
“My mentality and the offense’s mentality was we’ve been right here before, we’ve been up at halftime, and we didn’t finish before — going back to Florida State, we were up at half. Just asking them how bad we really wanted it,” Klubnik said. “We freaking wanted that game. We wanted it more than anything we’ve wanted all year. So, that was our mentality, was just to go finish the game. We’ve been dominating them all first half; let’s go dominate them in the second half.”
With the win, Dabo Swinney passed Frank Howard as the all-time winningest head coach in Clemson football history with 166 wins. Clemson also helped its chances at making a bowl game with the victory, as it only needs to win one of three remaining games to be bowl-eligible.
The Tigers will be back in action next Saturday when they host Georgia Tech.
