When No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 3 Clemson meet again in Charlotte, North Carolina in the ACC Championship game on Saturday, it will be a rematch of their classic game from the beginning of the year, with just a few stanzas. Not just a field match between the top-four teams met in a double-overtime thriller earlier this year, but it’s one of the biggest games in ACC football history.
It is the first top-five matchup in the ACC Championship Game, providing Notre Dame with a platform to play the Conference Championship for the first time and includes two teams that could both finish in the College Football Playoff playoffs, making ACC the same four-team playoff Just another conference to get two teams.
But neither of them differs from players like Trevor Lawrence and Ian Book in terms of field history, which ranks as the winning quarterback in school history in their respective programs. Clemson did not have Lawrence in the loss at Notre Dame and hopes that his return, with many defensive starts, will turn the tide against the Fighting Irish.
Viewing information
Event: ACC Championship Game
Date: Saturday, December 19 | Time: 4 p.m. ET
Location: Bank America F America Stadium – Charlotte, North Carolina
TV: ABC | Live stream: fuboTV (try for free)
Storylines
Notre Dame: Fighting Irish defense has been selective under Clark Lena, and we have now introduced the end of his time in the Sant Band with Wanderbilt as his head coaching coordinator. Under Lena, Notre Dame has caught 33-of-36 opponents by 30 points, including LSU, Michigan, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Clemson, Georgia, Virginia, Navy and North Carolina while they are in the top 25. . , Allowing Notre Dame 17.6 points per game, he ranks fifth among all the Power Five teams and the group is full of depth and experience in a way that can wear opponents throughout the game. The Fighting Irish have won high-scoring games and low-scoring games on their path to 10-0 here in 2020, but there has been a consistent thread about how they have lagged behind in the game.
In the 00 minutes of regulation proceedings, Notre Dame has only trailed in: 4444: 47, a testament to how the Fighting Irish defense can take control of the game and prevent the opponent from establishing any kind of advantage. There is no expectation that Clemson will be limited to less than 20 points or even under 30, but keeping Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne under investigation is how Notre Dame can complete and claim the Tigers’ two-game sweep. A big part of it is the first time conference championship.
Clemson: Travis Etienne has a career ACC rushing touchdown record, an ACC career touchdown record and is 10 points away from passing Florida state kicker Dustin Hopkins as the ACC career scoring leader. But he has 6 straight games with less than 100 rushing yards and the Tigers running back offense isn’t tangled up on the same clip we saw in 2018 and 2019. It is especially important to note the participation in the match with the Fighting Irish, as Etienne was limited to just 28 rushing yards on 18 attempts in the first meeting this year. Being the best star, Etienne still found ways to make an impact in a passing game with 57 receiving yards but establishing a consistent ground attack against the best run defense in the country is probably the most obvious way to win. For Clemson.
Trevor Larens is so different that in addition to his equation Clemson can beat Notre Dame without doing thousands of Etienne ten 100 yards, but avoiding him and many scenes from the third and long view for Lawrence will make things a lot. Easy on offense.
Notre Dame v. Clemson’s prediction
The line is just rude for Notre Dame, a team that has been playing at a high level on a week-in, week-by-week basis for almost the entire season. The Fighting Irish were 5.5-point underdogs when they won in the South Band earlier this year and now find themselves back in the match as a double-digit dog. Red zone defense is a great way to cover the spread, so when I think Clemson wins it won’t be more than a touchdown. Pick: Notre Dame +10.5
