Written by Ernie Casanova
ARLINGTON, TX- After a tremendous college football season full of action and excitement, the stage is set for the CFP Playoff Semifinals. On one end, we have Alabama taking on Kyler Murray and the Oklahoma Sooners at the Capitol One Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens, while on the other we have the Clemson Tigers taking on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX.
Clemson is in their fourth straight playoff semifinal, with this being their sixth College Football Playoff game in the last four years. Notre Dame will be making its CFP debut for the first time but under Brian Kelly, they have experienced a battle with the Tigers before. In 2015, the Fighting Irish fell short in a matchup against Clemson 24-22 after the Tigers stopped a DeShone Kizer scramble for a two-point conversion. Clemson is 2-1 in the all-time series against Notre Dame and has been a top 20 ranked team in each of their four total meetings.
The Tigers as we all know will be without their stud of a defensive tackle in Dexter Lawrence. Lawrence has accounted for seven sacks this year but has no issue about his confidence in his replacement Albert Huggins, and neither does head coach Dabo Swinney.
“But we’ve got a bunch of good players,” mentions Swinney at the head coaches press conference. “And Albert Huggins is a co-starter for us anyway. I mean, he’s a great, great talent. And I don’t have any doubt that he’ll step in and do a great job for us, as will Nyles [Pinckney] and Jordan [Williams]. So just more opportunity for those guys.”
On a positive note, the Tigers still have one of the stoutest defensive lines to remember as they ended with a national ranking of #2 in sacks. With the likes of Clelin Ferrell (10.5 sacks), Christian Wilkins (4.5 sacks) and Austin Bryant (6.5 sacks), Huggins should get tremendous help from them as decoys and have the ability to make an impact on huge plays. Trevor Lawrence is still the tall and tough playmaker of a quarterback that has been very significant to the Tigers’ success and running back Travis Etienne is 36 yards away from 1500 on the year.
When asked which lineman is his favorite due to his success, Etienne simply answered “They all are. I don’t have favorites. I don’t get into favorites.
As for Notre Dame, they’ve had to face much adversity on the year while coming out glorious each time. QB Ian Book stepped in for incumbent starter Brandon Wimbush and immediately changed the dynamic of this offense. Wimbush is now deciding to transfer after the CFP, but no matter the kind of negativity that gets out there, this team isn’t letting it become a distraction.
“We love Wimbush. He’s been pretty cool about it and in no way has it been a distraction,” states starting offensive lineman Tommy Kraemer.
On the season, Book has been superb. He has a total of 2468 passing yards and 19 touchdowns with only six interceptions, and that’s from entering in week three in relief and also being inactive for the Florida State game. With a passer rating of 153.4, Notre Dame’s offense has excelled in putting points on the board consistently after he assumed the starting role. He and Lawrence have traveled the same road, being on the bench to start the season and now being the leaders of their playoff teams.
“I think it’s really cool just being able to have similar situations. Both of us have the same dream of winning a national championship. I’m happy for him. And he’s a good player. And I think we’re both probably extremely excited and feel very fortunate to compete.”
Running back Dexter Williams has rushed for 941 yards and 12 touchdowns even after missing the first four games of the season, as says he is out to prove something to himself and his teammates.
Notre Dame has a very legitimate defense as well, with cornerback Julian Love being a Jim Thorpe Award semi-finalist and the front seven accumulating 31 sacks on the season. But they are used to the doubt.
“They have a lot of playmakers up there, but we’ve made a lot of plays, too. But that’s always the story when Notre Dame’s playing,” says Irish defensive tackle, Jerry Tillery. He later finishes his sentiment with “but people aren’t really talking about us until after the game.”
It’s a toss-up, and that’s the best part. This is the kind of game where you can forget all of the speculation and opinions. There’s no guessing or obvious advantage. These players will come out onto the field and give it all they got, and may the best man win.
