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Clemson Football: Tigers’ secondary will be tested vs. Notre Dame

By Shawn Spencer

CLEMSON, SC - SEPTEMBER 29: Head coach Dabo Swinney links arms with safety Isaiah Simmons #11 and defensive back K'Von Wallace #12 of the Clemson Tigers during Tigers' traditional Face Off prior to their football game against the Syracuse Orange at Clemson Memorial Stadium on September 29, 2018 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Mike Comer/Getty Images)
CLEMSON, SC - SEPTEMBER 29: Head coach Dabo Swinney links arms with safety Isaiah Simmons #11 and defensive back K'Von Wallace #12 of the Clemson Tigers during Tigers' traditional Face Off prior to their football game against the Syracuse Orange at Clemson Memorial Stadium on September 29, 2018 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Mike Comer/Getty Images) /
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The Clemson football team will take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Cotton Bowl. The Tigers’ secondary will be tested against the Irish.

The Clemson football team finished the regular season undefeated and defeated the Pittsburgh Panthers in the ACC Championship last week to earn a spot in the CFB Playoff.

The Tigers will take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Cotton Bowl with a trip to the National Championship on the line.

While I favor Clemson in the game and believe the Tigers should have the advantage in many areas, one place that they may struggle is the secondary.

Clemson’s secondary has struggled at times all season. The Tigers gave up exponential amounts of yardage against Kellen Mond (Texas A&M) and Jake Bentley (South Carolina).

At times last week against Pitt, the Tigers left receivers open, but Kenny Pickett wasn’t able to hit them. The secondary did look a lot better against the Panthers, though, as they only gave up eight passing yards the entire game.

But, Notre Dame’s Ian Book is a different breed compared to Kenny Pickett.

Testing the secondary…

Book has played really well all season for the Fighting Irish. He has some talented wide receivers to throw the ball to, as well.

I think he’ll be able to find the open holes in the secondary and he’ll test that Tiger secondary.

The question is two-fold:

  1. Can the Tigers benefit from extra time to prepare?
  2. Can Notre Dame’s wide receivers really beat Clemson?

I believe Brent Venables will be locked into this one. He’ll have several weeks to prepare and I think he’ll find the deficiencies in that secondary and find ways to account for them. The other thing that I think benefits Clemson is the type of wide receivers that Notre Dame has.

I want you to really think about this: What wide receivers have performed well against Clemson this season?

Guys that come to mind are Deebo Samuel, Shi Smith and Taj Harris. Those guys are quick and explosive. They aren’t big, tall wide receivers like what Notre Dame has.

For the most part, this secondary hasn’t struggled against big, strong receivers- with the exception of Kendrick Rogers who can do a little bit of it all and Jamal Custis.

But, even both of those guys have more athleticism than what some of the Fighting Irish wide receivers may have.

I’m not calling the Notre Dame wide receivers slow, either. I just think they have more of that Big Ten mold, which could help the secondary some.

Next. ACC Championship: Players of the Game. dark

In the end, though, Clemson is going to have to come prepared with a good game plan to stop that Notre Dame offense. If the Tigers can find a way to slow down the passing game, I think they’ll have a great chance to win.

We’ll be breaking down other areas of this matchup and looking deeper into the game as it approaches here in the next few weeks.

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