Tag: Clemson v. Notre Dame

McFadden on loss to Notre Dame: ‘It almost didn’t feel real at times’

After the loss to Notre Dame on the road, Clemson returned home with an 8-1 record and a lot to figure out on both sides of the ball. With only 281 yards on offense in the loss, nothing seemed to be clicking the entire night. Even the effectiveness …

After the loss to Notre Dame on the road, Clemson returned home with an 8-1 record and a lot to figure out on both sides of the ball. With only 281 yards on offense in the loss, nothing seemed to be clicking the entire night. Even the effectiveness of the run game that we’ve seen this season was just not working for the Tigers, as they had their worst rushing performance of the season against the Irish.

Offensive lineman Jordan McFadden spoke to the media on Monday and expressed his shock at Saturday’s performance. As a veteran on the team, McFadden gave his perspective about what he believes went wrong in the game.

“It’s definitely about studying the tape,” he said. “Saturday’s game came as a shock to me. I feel like we prepared well. I feel like guys were locked in all week. I felt like before the game, guys seemed super locked in and everything like that. So, it was kind of, you know, a shock. It almost didn’t feel real at times.”

The South Carolina native was candid when reflecting on the game and didn’t shy away expressing his disappointment with the team’s overall performance against the Irish.

“We’re definitely disappointed,” he said. “Not what we prepared for, not what we worked all season for or offseason for, definitely not the outcome we wanted. There’s nothing we can go back and do now to change it.”

McFadden questioned what factors may have contributed to the poor offensive showing and ultimately he believes it came down to the unit’s cohesion. He felt like even if 10 guys did everything right, one guy just wasn’t on the same page, and we saw that lack of cohesion reflect in the outcome of the game.

“I feel like when we have mistakes or when we stall out or when we don’t finish drives, it’s because maybe 10 people are doing what they’re supposed to be doing and one person is not doing the right thing,” he said.

The graduate senior shared where the mindset of the offense is now. Sometimes it may be hard to sweep a loss like the one on Saturday under the rug, but McFadden emphasized the importance of redirecting the team’s focus to the next task at hand, which is facing a dynamic Louisville team in Death Valley this weekend.

“Definitely, I’d be lying if I said that we didn’t want to make it to the playoffs,” he said, “but I think right now our focus is getting back on track beating Louisville. I think if we win out, things will take care of itself.”

Goodwin discusses the state of the defense: ‘We’re probably missing some vocal leadership’

The loss to Notre Dame last Saturday highlighted some glaring issues that defensive coordinator Wesley Goodwin will have to correct before Clemson is back in action this Saturday. When speaking to the media on Monday, Goodwin indicated that …

The loss to Notre Dame last Saturday highlighted some glaring issues that defensive coordinator Wesley Goodwin will have to correct before Clemson is back in action this Saturday.

When speaking to the media on Monday, Goodwin indicated that sometimes this season the defense misses some of that vocal leadership that was present in previous seasons. Whether it was James Skalski or Nolan Turner, you knew there were some veteran guys who, in the face of adversity, would demand that the rest of the team step up.

Goodwin discussed the difference between this season and some previous ones. From what was shared by Goodwin, it seems that a defense with so much individual potential lacks a dominant voice pulling the team back in the game.

“I think we have guys who have great leadership qualities, we’re probably missing some vocal leadership from those guys,” he said. “We lost a ton of experience that guys looked up to, from Skalski, (Baylon) Spector, Nolan Turner and those guys. We have great leaders on our team, not necessarily big vocal leaders — they’re more lead by example, and K.J. (Henry) is kind of the vocal leader, I would say, of the group, and some other guys. I think those guys will challenge the guys and get them right this week no doubt.”

Goodwin indicated there may have been external factors that impacted his defense, but it all comes back to the mindset the Tigers played with.

“I think when you’re dealing with young men, sometimes we let outside forces dictate our mindset for whatever reason,” he said, “but I don’t question anyone’s physicality or toughness at all on our defense.”

Goodwin shared that when it comes to leadership moving forward, it needs to be about both the players and the coaches working in tangent to pull the best performance out of one another. It is up to everyone to be on the same path, with the same vision, working towards the same goal, and that is what it’s going to take to get this defense where it needs to be for the remainder of the season.

“I think that and the combination of coaches as well,” he said. “We can pull it out of them as well. Everybody is on board with the process and we’ll get their best this week.”

 

TCI: Taste of South Bend

The Clemson Insider spent the weekend in South Bend for the 2022 edition of Clemson vs. Notre Dame. Despite a tough road loss for the Tigers, TCI enjoyed all of what South Bend had to offer, especially some great food spots we recommend for any …

The Clemson Insider spent the weekend in South Bend for the 2022 edition of Clemson vs. Notre Dame. Despite a tough road loss for the Tigers, TCI enjoyed all of what South Bend had to offer, especially some great food spots we recommend for any football fans visiting the home of the Fighting Irish.

Location #1: Brother’s

Brothers is a sports bar located in the Downtown District surrounding the Notre Dame campus. With the perfect corner location, fans flooded in on Friday to grab a bite to eat before walking around Notre Dame’s historic campus. The food was American bar cuisine and was just what we needed before a day on the Irish’s campus.

Location #2: The Lauber Kitchen & Bar

The Lauber Kitchen & Bar was TCI’s favorite dinner spot of the weekend. The menu featured pizza, salads, burgers, ribs, sandwiches and more. The venue was filled with Clemson fans and provided a nice outdoor space for dining as well.

The pizza was truly delicious and the ribs were also highly rated by the TCI staff. We definitely recommend this restaurant for a quick, relaxing dinner in South Bend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Location #3: O’ Rourke’s Public House

TCI couldn’t leave South Bend before stopping into an Irish Pub restaurant for a quick lunch on game day. Our staff was seated almost immediately after entering, which was great, especially as the restaurant was so close to the stadium and fans flooded the streets looking for a bite to eat before the game.

Again, the food was great and the atmosphere was exactly what you would want on game day. For an Irish Pub restaurant, the menu had great variety, featuring some TCI favorites—fish and chips, the garden salad and boneless wings. Overall, TCI highly recommends.

 

 

 

 

Uiagalelei says confidence is still ‘sky high’ after loss

After the worst offensive performance of the season in the loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei spoke to the media after the game and offered his take on where the team is in terms of confidence. The junior signal-caller …

After the worst offensive performance of the season in the loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei spoke to the media after the game and offered his take on where the team is in terms of confidence.

The junior signal-caller described his confidence as “sky high” despite having the lowest total yards on offense (281) all season.

“Same confidence I’ve had all season,” he said. “I would rather die with these guys in the offense — my offensive line, my running backs, my tight ends, my receivers, coach (Brandon) Streeter. I would rather die with everyone on the offensive staff. The confidence is sky high. I believe in the offense and we all believe in ourselves. We have a great offense and we have to continue to show that and next week will be a good week.”

Some may question where the quarterback is mentally after being benched late in the third quarter to bring in true freshman Cade Klubnik for one drive, but Uiagalelei insists he was locked in and would do whatever the team needed him to do in that moment.

“The mindset don’t change,” he said. “Whenever we come out of the game, we want to be the biggest supporter I can to my brother Cade. He’s going to be great. It all happens, quarterbacks, we all make mistakes, but he’s going to be a great ball player. Biggest thing I love about Cade is he’s aggressive, he’s a baller. He’s a young player, he’s a freshman, but he’s going to be great. I told him he’s going to have a great career.”

 The California native was already trying to shake the loss and emphasized to the media that this loss will test the resilience of the Clemson program. The quarterback referenced the 4-3 start to last season, and in that moment they had to decide the fate of the remainder of the season.

With a loss to Notre Dame, Clemson’s record moves to 8-1, but Uiagalelei insisted that the goals the team set out to accomplish at the beginning of the season still stand and ultimately how the team chooses to respond to this adversity will dictate their fate.

“We have a great team,” he said. “Today sucks, but you have to respond. We got the right makeup of the team that’s going to come back and respond, and that’s what you have to do. At the end of the day, you’re either going to starve or you’re going to go out there and eat, and we have to go out there and eat.”

Henry on loss to Notre Dame: ‘We earned what we got’

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 …

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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Clemson’s offense has worst showing of the season in loss to Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Fourth-ranked Clemson fell to Notre Dame on Saturday 35-14 in their worst offensive showing of the season. The offense struggled both in the run and the passing game, but what really nailed the Tigers was their inability to win …

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Fourth-ranked Clemson fell to Notre Dame on Saturday 35-14 in their worst offensive showing of the season.

The offense struggled both in the run and the passing game, but what really nailed the Tigers was their inability to win the turnover margin for the second straight game. The loss to Notre Dame featured the fewest total yards for the Tigers this season.

At the conclusion of the third quarter, the Tigers only had 127 yards on offense, were 1-8 on third downs and only averaged 3.9 yards per play. They finished the game with 281 yards.

Prior to this game, Clemson’s fewest rushing yards in a game was 119 total yards. In the loss to the Irish, the Tiger’s only had 90 rush yards, which paled in comparison to Notre Dame’s 265.

Two interceptions by Notre Dame helped seal the Tigers’ fate. Both interceptions were made by Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison, who the second one 96 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-0 Notre Dame early in the fourth quarter.

Morrison made the first interception late in the third quarter, when backup quarterback Cade Klubnik came in for the Tigers. The cornerback’s interception was deep in Clemson territory which led to another touchdown for the Irish a couple plays later.

Only Will Shipley’s touchdown run in the fourth quarter prevented Clemson from being shut out.

The Tigers leave South Bend with a loss on their record and much to figure out on the offensive side of the ball.