Clemson Football: Tigers actually match up better with Notre Dame than BC

Clemson football actually matches up better with Notre Dame than with Boston College

There’s no doubt that Clemson football will face a more talented team with more depth this Saturday when they travel up to South Bend to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame is a team that has the talent to compete in the ACC and potentially even be viable for a CFB Playoff berth when it’s all said and done. The Fighting Irish are currently ranked No. 4 in the nation and they’ve survived each of their matchups so far this season.

But it’s not much of a stretch to say that this Clemson football team actually matches up better with Notre Dame than it did with Boston College a week ago.

Notre Dame may have more talent, but that doesn’t mean anything in terms of what Clemson football does best

There’s no doubt that if Notre Dame and Boston College played on a field (they actually will next weekend), the Fighting Irish would be favored. But there’s something that Boston College has that plays into the weakness of Clemson that Notre Dame simply doesn’t have- and it’s all about the passing game.

Two BC players made things very difficult for Clemson football defensively in the first half of the game Saturday: QB Phil Jurkovec and WR Zay Flowers.

When you look at this Notre Dame roster, you might say that Ian Book is of the same caliber as Jurkovec- though I don’t think that’s true- but what about the wide receiver core? I ask you: Find the Zay Flowers on this Fighting Irish roster. Find the outside talent.

You simply can’t.

Notre Dame is an offense that relies on the running game to get things going and the Tigers match up well against teams that want to run-first (See Miami as an example).

There’s no doubt that Notre Dame has talent, but the match-ups on the field are actually more favorable for the Tigers this week than they were in the previous week.