Notre Dame rallies past No. 1 Clemson in a game that lived up to the hype
Clemson was seconds away from a win in regulation and an overtime stop away from securing victory once again.
But the program that has seemed to always find a way to win close games, to get the late stop, to make a big play at just the right time, came up just short Saturday night at Notre Dame.
The fourth-ranked Irish (7-0, 6-0) rallied for a 47-40 victory over No. 1 Clemson (7-1, 6-1) Saturday night at Notre Dame Stadium, keeping Clemson from earning its first ever win over an AP top 5 team on the road.
The loss snapped several streaks for Clemson, including: 50 consecutive wins on Saturdays, 36-straight regular season wins, 28-straight ACC wins and 14 consecutive road victories.
“That’s an instant classic, that’s for sure,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “That was an unbelievable college football game, and both teams just displayed incredible competitiveness, incredible hearts, incredible will to win. It was unbelievable to watch.”
The Irish scored in double-OT on a 3-yard run by Kyren Williams, before Clemson’s ensuing drive went in reverse.
Tigers freshman quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei, who was starting for Trevor Lawrence who was out due to COVID-19 protocol, was sacked on the first two plays of double overtime. After an incomplete pass on third down, the Tigers faced a fourth-and-24 needing a first down to extend the game. But Uiagalelei’s pass to Braden Galloway went for only 13 yards.
Galloway tried to lateral the ball to extend the play, but Notre Dame’s Nick McCloud eventually pounced on it to seal the game and the win.
“We had our chance to win the game. We had every opportunity to win the game in regulation and we didn’t get it done,” Swinney said.
Uiagalelei was 29-of-44 passing for 439 yards and two touchdowns in the loss. The freshman QB filled in for the second straight week after Lawrence’s positive COVID-19 test that came just days before the Tigers’ Oct. 31 game against Boston College. Lawrence, who was cleared from his quarantine period, traveled with the Tigers and was on the sideline Saturday.
The 439 passing yards were the third-most in a game in school history and the most ever thrown against Notre Dame by an opposing quarterback.
Clemson will now enter its second open week before resuming with a Nov. 21 game at Florida State.
Notre Dame is a football member of the Atlantic Coast Conference for the 2020 season only as teams navigate the coronavirus pandemic. Most believe the Irish and Tigers will meet again for the conference crown Dec. 19 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
Saturday’s game was played in front of a pandemic-reduced crowd of 11,011. At least a few thousand of them — most likely students — stormed the field afterward, jamming together and making it hard for both teams to get to their respective locker rooms.
While Uiagalelei had a record-setting day, the Tigers struggled on both lines of scrimmage.
Clemson rushed for only 34 yards in the loss, its fewest since 2011. And the Tigers allowed 209 yards on the ground, the most since the 2016 national championship game.
“We made a couple too many mistakes and they made a couple of more plays than we did,” Swinney said. “So congratulations to Notre Dame and coach (Brian) Kelly. They did an awesome, awesome job.”
Next Clemson football game
Who: Tigers at FSU in Tallahassee
When: Nov. 21, time TBD
Clemson vs Notre Dame scoring summary, stats
First Quarter
ND—K.Williams 65 run (Doerer kick), 14:27.
ND—FG Doerer 24, 5:55.
CLE—Powell 53 pass from Uiagalelei (Potter kick), 4:11.
Second Quarter
ND—FG Doerer 27, 13:09.
CLE—FG Potter 25, 8:32.
ND—Owusu-Koramoah 23 fumble return (Doerer kick), 5:53.
ND—FG Doerer 45, 2:41.
CLE—FG Potter 45, 1:09.
Third Quarter
CLE—FG Potter 46, 12:15.
CLE—D.Allen 10 pass from Uiagalelei (Potter kick), 4:12.
Fourth Quarter
ND—FG Doerer 44, 11:37.
CLE—FG Potter 30, 9:42.
CLE—Etienne 3 run (Potter kick), 3:33.
ND—A.Davis 4 pass from Book (Doerer kick), :22.
First Overtime
CLE—Uiagalelei 1 run (Potter kick), :00.
ND—K.Williams 3 run (Doerer kick), :00.
Second Overtime
ND—K.Williams 3 run (Doerer kick), :00.
- First downs: 22 to 22
- Rushing yards ND 202 to 34
- Passing yards: CLE 439 to 310
- Time of possession: ND 30:22 to 29:38
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING—Clemson, Etienne 18-28, Mellusi 1-5, Uiagalelei 13-2, (Team) 1-(minus 1). Notre Dame, K.Williams 23-140, Book 14-61, Flemister 1-5, Tyree 2-(minus 4).
PASSING—Clemson, Uiagalelei 29-44-0-439. Notre Dame, Book 22-39-0-310.
RECEIVING—Clemson, Rodgers 8-134, Etienne 8-57, Powell 6-161, Galloway 3-46, D.Allen 2-19, Ngata 1-14, E.Williams 1-8. Notre Dame, McKinley 5-102, Mayer 5-67, A.Davis 4-78, Skowronek 4-33, Tremble 3-32, K.Williams 1-(minus 2).
MISSED FIELD GOALS—Notre Dame, Doerer 57.
This story was originally published November 7, 2020 at 11:43 PM with the headline "Notre Dame rallies past No. 1 Clemson in a game that lived up to the hype."
