The College Football Playoffs are here! The Clemson Tigers and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are ready to get things going in the Cotton Bowl! Here’s what you need to know about the game.
The Clemson Tigers are dealing with some drama at the moment. Right now, the second best team in college football is having to prepare for the Cotton Bowl against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish without Dexter Lawrence, one of the best defensive lineman in all of college football, due to a failed drug test.
That means that there’s a chance that Clemson’s offense, led by star freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence, will need to pick up some of the slack against a talented Notre Dame football team.
But, scoring hasn’t been an issue for Trevor Lawrence and the Tigers’ offense at all. As the young quarterback earned the starting job midway through the season, he threw for 2606 yards and 24 touchdowns against just 4 interceptions this season. Plus, Lawerence will have Travis Etienne alongside him. This year the star running back has run for 1464 yards and 21 touchdowns at a rate of 8.3 yards per carry.
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Notre Dame can move the football too. Ian Book, like Trevor Lawrence, earned the starting job as the season wore on, and proved to be an effective quarterback, throwing for 2468 yards and 19 touchdowns while throwing 6 picks.
Expect the Fighting Irish to get running back Dexter Williams a multitude of carries, especially if Clemson’s Dexter Lawrence is out of the game for sure. There’s a chance that Notre Dame might go after a slightly depleted Clemson defensive line with a running back who has run for 941 yards and 12 touchdowns on just 142 carries.
How to watch and bet on the Cotton Bowl
- Date: Saturday, Dec. 29
- Start time: 4:00 p.m. ET
- Location: Arlington, TX
- Stadium: AT&T Stadium
- Spread: Clemson -12.5
- Channel: ESPN
- Stream: WatchESPN
Prediction: While Notre Dame’s offense has been effective and efficient, something that has been solid and steady throughout the season, the Clemson Tigers are operating at a notch above the Fighting Irish on the offensive side of things. If this game becomes a track meet, the Tigers should have the advantage given the multitude of weapons that Trevor Lawrence will have available to him. This is Notre Dame’s first trip to the College Football Playoffs, but it probably won’t end as many Fighting Irish fans hope it would.