Notre Dame vs Clemson Series History

A look at the football series history between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Clemson Tigers

Did Notre Dame turn its season around in last weekend’s 41-24 victory at Syracuse? We will find out on Saturday night in South Bend when the Fighting Irish take on the fifth-ranked Clemson Tigers.

NOTRE DAME vs CLEMSON SERIES HISTORY

Notre Dame and Clemson have met six times previously, with 4 of those matchups coming since 2015. The Tigers hold a 4-2 series lead, with the only Notre Dame victories coming in the 1977 and 2020 regular seasons.

Notre Dame and Clemson have developed a bit of a rivalry in recent seasons on both the field and recruiting trail, as the Tigers have been the only ACC program to win consistently since the Irish agreed to play 5 ACC schools per year starting in 2013. In Notre Dame’s only season as a full ACC member, the Irish beat Clemson in South Bend to win the ACC regular season championship but fell in a rematch to the Tiges in the ACC Championship Game.

NOTRE DAME vs CLEMSON SERIES RESULTS

2020 – Clemson 34, Notre Dame 10 (ACC Championship)
2020 – Notre Dame 47, Clemson 40
2018 – Clemson 30, Notre Dame 3 (Cotton Bowl – College Football Playoff Semifinal)
2015 – Clemson 24, Notre Dame 22
1979 – Clemson 16, Notre Dame 10
1977 – Notre Dame 21, Clemson 17

NOTABLE GAMES

2020 (ACC Championship) – Trevor Lawrence returned to the lead the Clemson offense in the ACC Championship Game after missing the November matchup in South Bend with Covid, and Notre Dame had no answer for his presence in the lineup. The Irish actually got off to a good start, with Jonathan Doerer hitting a 51-yard field goal on the first drive followed by the Irish defense intercepting Lawrence in his only mistake of the game, but Notre Dame stalled inside the 10-yard line and Doerer missed a 24-yard field goal. After that, it was all Clemson.

The Tigers scored the next 34 points behind 412 total yards and 3 touchdowns from Lawrence. Though known as more of a passer, it was his running ability that gave Notre Dame the most problems. Notre Dame could not sell out to stop Travis Etienne in this matchup, and Etienne wound up with 124 yards rushing on just 10 carries while Lawrence chipped in 90 yards rushing himself. On offense, Notre Dame struggled to move the ball against a healthy Clemson defense, averaging just 1.5 rushing YPC and not scoring a touchdown until the 4th quarter. Even with the loss, Notre Dame made the College Football Playoff but lost to Alabama 31-14 in the (Dallas-hosted) Rose Bowl.

2020 (Regular Season) – After a defensive holding penalty on Notre Dame’s first play of the game, Kyren Williams took the next snap 65 yards for a touchdown, setting the stage for a wild game in Notre Dame Stadium watched only by the students, faculty, and staff due to Covid restrictions. Clemson backup QB DJ Uiagalelei threw for 439 yards and 2 touchdowns in place of Trevor Lawrence– the most passing yards ever given up by Notre Dame – but the Irish defense was able to limit talented RB Travis Etienne, make the Tigers one-dimensional, and use a combination of bend-but-don’t-break defensive strategy and timely turnovers (including two by Butkus Award winner Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah) to keep the game close.

Still, Notre Dame trailed 33-26 with just 2:10 remaining after turning the ball over on downs. However, the Irish defense rose up and made a stop, which (helped by poor Clemson clock management) gave the offense one more shot to tie the game with 1:41 remaining. After two first downs got the drive rolling, Ian Book hit Avery Davis on a 53-yard post route to put the ND on the goal line, and 3 plays later found Davis again for the tying score, sending the game to overtime. After trading touchdowns in the first extra session, Notre Dame took a 7-point lead in the second overtime on another Williams touchdown, the Irish defense stopped Clemson’s last-ditch effort to tie, and the students stormed the field to celebrate the win.

2018 – Notre Dame entered the College Football Playoff with a perfect 12-0 record, but a combination of some early bounces that didn’t go the Irish’s way, Ian Book’s reluctance to attack the Clemson secondary deep, and an untimely injury to All-American CB Julian Love that allowed Clemson to score twice in the last 1:44 of the first half resulted in another big game blowout under Brian Kelly. Clemson’s late second quarter onslaught turned what had been a 9-3 defensive struggle into a 23-3 game at halftime, and a third quarter Travis Etienne touchdown cemented the 30-3 margin. The Irish defense actually played pretty well, frustrating Lawrence for most of the game, but like great players do, he exploited the only times he had an advantage. Clemson would go on to win the national championship with a dominating 44-16 win over Alabama.

2015 – With heavy rains battering South Carolina and soaking the Death Valley playing surface, a talented Notre Dame team was unable to overcome sloppy play and early mistakes, falling 24-22 in a classic against Clemson. Notre Dame outgained Clemson 432-296, but 4 turnovers allowed the Tigers to get easy points. Clemson’s 4 scoring drives were 64, 40, 29, and 50 yards.

The Irish trailed 14-3 at halftime and 21-3 less than a minute into the third quarter after CJ Sanders fumbled the second half kickoff, but then woke up. DeShone Kizer led the Notre Dame offense on 3 fourth quarter touchdown drives, culminating in a 1-yard touchdown pass to Torii Hunter Jr. with 7 seconds remaining. However, Kizer was stopped on the two-point conversion attempt, denying Notre Dame a chance to win in overtime. The Irish would still have a chance to reach the College Football Playoff but a loss to Stanford in the season finale sent the Irish to the Fiesta Bowl, where they lost 44-28 to Ohio State.

1977 – In the first matchup between the two programs, Notre Dame overcame a 17-7 fourth quarter deficit behind two Joe Montana touchdowns to pull out the 21-17 victory en route to the 1977 national championship. After knocking off #7 Pittsburgh in the opener, Notre Dame surprisingly lost to Ole Miss before rallying to win the last 10 games of the season, culminating in a dominating 38-10 win over Texas in the Cotton Bowl that vaulted the Irish from fifth to first in the polls. The victory over Clemson marked the second time that season that Montana had led the Irish back from a double-digit deficit, building his reputation as “the comeback kid”.

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