CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Clemson avenged their only loss of the season--and then some--overpowering Notre Dame 34-10 Saturday to win the ACC Championship and almost assuredly earn themselves a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Final playoff rankings and pairings will come out Sunday afternoon but the dominant win would appear to clinch a slot in the 4-team tournament that begins on New Year's Day. Meanwhile, the lopsided loss for the Fighting Irish may have dashed that team's chances to join the Tigers in the postseason. Going into the contest, there had been speculation that Notre Dame could even afford to lose a close one and still get in. That argument is harder to make now.
It was a much different looking contest than the last time these two met back in October, when Notre Dame prevailed 47-40 in double overtime. Clemson, however, was without starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence and key defensive players back then.
With Lawrence back, Clemson (10-1) had a balanced attack led by him and running back Travis Etienne. Lawrence finished with 322 yard passing and 2 touchdowns through the air (one on the ground) while Etienne had 124 yards rushing and a touchdown.
Notre Dame would actually get on the board first with a 51-yard field goal with 8:16 in the first quarter.
Then it all unraveled.
Near the end of the first quarter, Lawrence hit wide receiver Amari Rogers for a 67-yard score for Clemson's first points of the game.
Lawrence would find E.J. Wilson who'd go 33 yard into the end zone to put the Tigers up 14-3 at 9:24 in the second quarter. After a B.T. Potter field goal a few minutes later, Etienne would run 44 yards right before the half to give Clemson a three touchdown lead.
While Clemson's offense was rolling, Notre Dame's was sputtering, as Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book was sacked several times in the game and pressured on many other plays. He finished with 219 yards and no touchdowns.
Notre Dame would finally score with when Chris Tyree ran for 21-yards in the 4th quarter when the game was well out of reach.
This is Clemson's sixth straight ACC title, and 20th overall in program history, the most by any team in league history. If they make the playoff as expected, this will be their sixth appearance in the seven years of the playoff, with the only exception being the first year of the tournament's existence in 2014.