EDITORIAL BY GRAYDON FOX

Overview:

On Saturday, December 29^th, the (12-0) Notre Dame Fighting Irish will take on the (13-0) Clemson Tigers in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.

The Crowd:

The Crowd projects a final score of Clemson 33.1 – Notre Dame 25.9 with an over/under of 59.0.

Lou Holtz and Mark May:

Lou is predicting a final score of Notre Dame 31 –Clemson 14.

Mark is predicting a final score of Clemson 38 – Notre Dame 23.

2018-19 Statistics (130 total teams):

Passing offense: Clemson 270.1 YPG (28^th) > Notre Dame 265.6 YPG (31^st)

Rushing offense: Clemson 259.8 YPG (10^th) > Notre Dame 190.5 YPG (49^th)

Scoring offense: Clemson 45.4 PPG (5^th) > Notre Dame 33.8 PPG (34^th)

Scoring defense: Clemson 13.7 PPG (2^nd) > Notre Dame 17.3 PPG (9^th)

Passing defense: Clemson 183.8 (18^th) > Notre Dame 198.0 YPG (36^th)

Rushing defense: Clemson 92.9 YPG (3^rd) > Notre Dame 133.5 YPG (33^rd)

Turnover Margin Per Game: Notre Dame +0.4 (33^rd) > Clemson +0.2 (54^th)

Strength of Schedule:

Notre Dame is (12-0) with victories over #14 Michigan, Ball State, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, #7 Stanford, #24 Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Navy, Northwestern, Florida State, #12 Syracuse, and USC.

Clemson is (13-0) with wins over Furman, Texas A&M, Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Wake Forest, #16 NC State, Florida State, Louisville, Boston College, Duke South Carolina, and Pittsburgh.

Betting Trends: 

– Notre Dame is 6-5-1 against the spread this season while Clemson is 8-5.

– Notre Dame is 6-6 against the over/under this season whereas Clemson is 7-6.

Bottom Line

Clemson features great offensive balance as they are equally dynamic both passing and running the football. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence grew leaps and bounds over the course of the season and running back Travis Etienne was third in the country with 21 rushing touchdowns.  Notre Dame looked like a completely different team when quarterback Ian Book took over for the ineffective Brandon Wimbush.  Clemson features a defense that led the nation in yards per rush attempt (2.4) and ranked second in sacks (46).  This game will be close but Clemson’s defensive line will take over and get the needed stops late.

Clemson wins 33-23

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