Clemson Football: Notre Dame’s upset checklist vs. Tigers

The Clemson football team will be looking to avoid an upset against Notre Dame

The Clemson football team will be without its starting quarterback in Trevor Lawrence, but the Tigers are still considered a slight favorite over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish heading into this weekend’s matchup.

Clemson football is currently entering this matchup as a 5.5-point favorite and the Tigers are looking to improve on a 36-game regular season winning streak.

While Notre Dame beating Clemson with its backup QB wouldn’t necessarily be considered an upset in the eyes of most, it still will be a big deal as the Tigers have just grown accustomed to winning.

We’ve talked extensively about what Clemson must do to win this ballgame, but now let’s take a look at the other sideline.

A look at Notre Dame’s upset checklist against Clemson football

• Win the turnover margin
• Establish some kind of a running game
• Ian Book needs to have the game of his life
• Create pressure on D.J. Uiagalelei and stop the Tigers from establishing a rushing attack
• Win the ‘explosive plays’ category

These are the five things that Notre Dame must do to win this game and all five will have to be accomplished in some way or another.

Overall, if we were to break it down in simplest terms, here’s what it means: Win the lines of scrimmage, force a turnover or two and be uncharacteristically efficient in the passing game. Notre Dame doesn’t have to have a running game to win, but they do need to have enough of a rushing attack that it opens up receivers a little bit and gives them some wiggle room, especially in third down situations.

This is going to be a fun one, no doubt, and it will be interesting to see how things shape out when it’s all done.