Clemson’s 24-3 halftime lead over undefeated Notre Dame in the ACC Championship Game highlights how fraudulent the Fighting Irish have been in 2020
Notre Dame football has had quite the 2020 season but it’s looking like it won’t end the way they wanted. The No. 2 Fighting Irish came into Saturday’s ACC Championship Game looking to complete the perfect, 11-0 season and a bid into the four-team College Football Playoff.
Dabo Swinney‘s Clemson Tigers, the No. 3 team in the nation, looked to avenge its lone loss, a 47-40 double-overtime defeat at Notre Dame last month with its starting quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, sidelined with COVID-19, among other Clemson starters who were out with injury.
Eight of the 10 Notre Dame wins this season were over unranked opponents. Yes, the double-overtime win over Clemson on Nov. 7 stands out, but the only other ranked opponent the Fighting Irish saw this year was No. 15 North Carolina, a game in which they won by two touchdowns.
Notre Dame football exposed vs. a healthy Clemson squad
The Fighting Irish have only been tested in two of their 10 games so far. Besides the Clemson game in which Lawrence was unable to play, Notre Dame narrowly escaped with a victory over Louisville at home, 12-7.
Tonight, the Tigers are clearly exposing the Fighting Irish on both sides of the ball. In the first half, Clemson was able to put up 24 points and 339 total yards on offense despite only having the ball for only 11 of the 30 total minutes.
Notre Dame’s rushing offense in the first half was abysmal, only gaining 38 yards on 19 carries. Clemson’s defense put pressure on the Fighting Irish offensive line early, sacking the Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book three times in the first half.
In hindsight, if this game continues to be a blowout in favor of Clemson, I think head coach Brian Kelly would love to take back his comments regarding a possible boycott of the College Football Playoff.
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