Clemson football: 5 areas to place blame in loss to Notre Dame

4. Defense didn’t make winning plays & got beat too often

Clemson’s defense gets a lot of flack, but the truth of the matter is that the Tigers stopped the Irish for most of the game. After they gave up the early 10 points, the defense settled into the game and did a solid job- until the end of the game and overtime when they were clearly gassed.

That being said, this unit still just found itself out of position far too many times. They whiffed on arm tackles. The coverage was lacking and made it far too easy on Ian Book. The pass-rush was nonexistent in the first half.

You can’t beat a team like Notre Dame that wants to control the time of possession without creating pressure and putting them behind the sticks with negative plays. Even when the defense did get them with negative yardage, the Tigers would give up a big play that would give the Irish a fresh set of downs.