David D’Annibale, Staff Writer |
Notre Dame defeated Clemson 47 to 40 last Sunday, bringing their record to 7-0 on the season and first place in the ACC conference. This was the second straight game that the Tigers had to play without their top quarterback Trevor Lawrence, but the first-year quarterback DJ Uiagalelei did a respectable job filling in for him the last two games. After the game was over, fans at the stadium entered the field to celebrate with the team, which surprised many due to the threat of COVID-19.
In the first quarter, the Fighting Irish scored on the first drive of the game after a 65-yard run by Kyren Williams to put the team up 7-0. After a defensive stop, Notre Dame’s offense had to settle for a field goal by kicker Jonathan Doerer to expand the lead to 10-0. The Tigers responded with a touchdown of their own after Uiagalelei threw a 53-yard pass to Cornell Powell to make the score 10-7. The score stayed the same for the rest of the first quarter. The second quarter started with Notre Dame bringing the ball inside Clemson’s 20-yard line, but they had to settle for a field goal . Clemson added a field goal on their next drive to cut into the lead, now trailing by three. Mistakes by Clemson’s offense proved to be the difference as key turnovers gave Notre Dame 10 straight points before halftime. Clemson added one more field goal and trailed 23-13.
In the third quarter, the Tigers dominated on both offense and defense. The Tigers started with the ball and capitalized by scoring three points after kicker B.T. Potter made his third field goal of the game. On Clemson’s next drive they were able to tie the game at 23-23 with Uiagalelei throwing his second touchdown of the game and the score remained the same entering the fourth quarter . At the beginning of the quarter, Notre Dame recaptured the lead after a long drive that ended with a field goal that gave the team a three-point lead. It did not take long for Clemson to respond as on their next drive they tied the game with a field goal. After a key defensive stop, the Tigers gained the lead after a touchdown run by Travis Etienne to put Clemson up by seven. After Clemson’s offense failed to get a first down; the Irish were given one final opportunity to tie the game and they succeeded. The game had to be settled in overtime with the score tied at 33-33. In the first overtime, both teams scored touchdowns to extend the game to double overtime. Tied at 40-40, Notre Dame started with the ball first and regained the lead with a touchdown. Clemson’s offense on that next drive failed to score and they lost by the final score of 47-40. Clemson will hope to have Lawrence back for their next game against Florida State and Notre Dame will look to stay perfect against Boston College.
Leave a Reply