Clemson’s hope of an undefeated season was crushed by Notre Dame, which had a dominant victory over the Tigers on Saturday.
With an inability to get confidence or momentum on either side of the ball, many questions circulate about where the offense and the defense will be for the remainder of the season. Even with the Tigers returning to Death Valley for their final three games of the regular season, they face some fierce competition and will have to make a 180-degree turn from their performance inside Notre Dame Stadium.
Senior defensive end K.J. Henry spoke to the media after the game and was candid about the team’s woeful performance against the Fighting Irish. More specifically, the defensive line’s performance against Notre Dame’s rush attack. It was an uncharacteristic performance for the Tigers, who came into this game ranked seventh nationally in run defense.
Henry reflected on how frustrating it felt to prepare for two weeks with a set game plan and just go out there and not be able to execute on any level.
“One hundred percent,” he said. “The coaches are going to do the best job they can to take the blame, but it’s all on the players. (Head) coach (Dabo) Swinney made a statement this week that at this point in the season, everybody’s got their game plan and you just got to get out of the way and let the players play. Last two weeks of preparation was great, the coaches gave us a plan to win the game and we didn’t execute. That’s really what’s so frustrating coming off a bye week and that’s the performance you put up. With that being said, just like a loss we treat it the same as a win. Watching the film on Sunday and Monday, then we have to flush it and get on the next one.”
The North Carolina native even went on to say that Swinney had a message for the team: “We earned what we got.” Henry, who is a veteran on the defensive line, said that the mental aspect of these types of games is a key factor and was what the Tigers were missing on Saturday.
“We earned what we got tonight,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong. Notre Dame, a more physical team, more disciplined team, they played better than us tonight, but we also helped them. There was just some things where we really didn’t help ourselves in a lot of situations from the jump. Like Coach Swinney said, mental is big in these games, especially when we lost here last time. I knew how this crowd would get. So, really didn’t help ourselves from the jump and definitely have to be better in those situations.”
However, the senior attempted to look forward despite the crushing loss on the road. Henry reflected on being 4-3 after seven games last year. Yet despite that start, the Tigers went on to finish the season 10-3. He emphasized the importance of responding to adversity, and that’s what the team will have to do to finish the final stretch of the season strong at home.
“It was our decision to respond,” he said. “This is our first loss this year, and we are going to be granted with that same decision to respond. So it will be great to see what these guys are made of and what this locker room expects and expects us to respond in the right way. But at the end of the day, we have to show it. It will be great to see what we put on the field next time we step out.”
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