Clemson football has had it’s share of injuries, both last season when the Tigers were a walking MASH unit and even this fall with the losses of Tre Williams and Xavier Thomas for the shorter term and Troy Stellato for the season.
One of Clemson’s tougher opponents on the schedule is suffering perhaps a worse fate, as Notre Dame lost wide receiver Avery Davis for the season it was announced earlier this week.
Davis, a sixth year senior, tore his ACL in practice.
Davis caught 27 passes for 386 yards and 4 touchdowns last season and was expected to be a bigger part of this years offense, perhaps even the leading target for new starting quarterback Tyler Buchner, so this is a considerable loss for the Irish.
Notre Dame now has just six healthy wide receivers and, as we pointed out in a previous oppo research on the Irish, they are thin at running back also.
Being thin at two key skill positions is not where you want to be with the opener against Ohio State in Columbus is a little over two weeks away.
Clemson football is dealing with some injuries, but Notre Dame has lost a key cog for the season
The sports books apparently agree as the Irish are now a 16 point underdog to the Buckeyes at WynnBet.
The depth issues aside, Buchner the newly named starter has only 35 passes under his belt, with 21 completions for 298 yards, 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.
He’s solid on the ground averaging 7.3 yards on 46 carries, but will now command an offense that is missing a key cog.
Earlier this summer I pegged the Notre Dame game, in South Bend in November, as one Clemson could lose and even picked the Irish to win given what we knew at that time.
As time goes on I may adjust that line of thinking and if I did it over again would likely peg the Tigers as a small favorite.
ESPN’s FPI tool is much more kind towards Clemson, giving the Tigers a 60% chance of winning against the Irish.