Barrett Carter Evaluates Clemson's 'Embarrassing' Performance at ND

Clemson's defense is frustrated that it knew what was coming against Notre Dame but was "not be able to do anything about it" in the 35-14 loss.

Brad Senkiw | Nov 7, 2022

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Barrett Carter couldn't sugarcoat Clemson's defensive performance in the 35-14 loss at Notre Dame.

The Clemson linebacker said it was difficult to know what was coming and still give up 263 rushing yards last Saturday night on the road.

"I think if you're not angry about what happened last game, then you shouldn't be playing the sport," Carter said Monday. "It was embarrassing, honestly, and just to line up and not essentially be able to do anything about the run game, there's definitely a lot of anger."

The Tigers are still reeling from ND's success on the ground. The Irish converted six of their 12 third downs. All six of those came via the run.

"We gotta be more disciplined with our gaps," Carter said. "No one needs to be a superhero. I'm not talking about anyone in general. Just do your job and the plays will make themselves. But we've got to be more disciplined as a defense, stay in our gaps, and then we'll stop them. We weren't doing that."

Notre Dame had an impressive 11-play drive in the second quarter where the Irish threw just one pass and called a run play on eight consecutive snaps. Notre Dame scored on that possession, via the run, to go up 14-0 at halftime.

"It was tough," Carter said. "You try to respond and you really do all you can. But at the end of the day, they were just a better team. We've just got to take this loss, watch the film, study it, see what we did wrong, and just move on to the next game. It does hurt, but we can't dwell on it too much."

What Notre Dame did to Clemson wasn't mental. The Irish only completed nine passes for 85 yards. They didn't use any funky formations or try to trick the Tigers into seeing one thing while doing another. It was pretty straightforward: Notre Dame double-teamed the defensive tackles, cleared a big hole and was the more physically-imposing team.

"I don't think they did anything too spectacular to win the game," Carter said. "I think they just dominated us and we can't allow that to happen going against any opponent. So I think that's on us as a defense. We just got to step up to the plate and just, you know, put our big boy pants on and just fight back.

"At the end of the day, we didn't do that. I tip my hat to Notre Dame. They played a great game. They had a great plan for us, but we just have to play better as a defense."

The Tigers (8-1, 6-0 ACC) will get their chance to do that Saturday at 3:30 p.m. when Louisville (6-3, 3-3) comes to Memorial Stadium.

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