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Cotton Bowl Classic Preview: #3 Notre Dame vs. #2 Clemson

By Eric Robinson

SOUTH BEND, IN - SEPTEMBER 08: Te'von Coney #4 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates a sack with Khalid Kareem #53 against the Ball State Cardinals at Notre Dame Stadium on September 8, 2018 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, IN - SEPTEMBER 08: Te'von Coney #4 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates a sack with Khalid Kareem #53 against the Ball State Cardinals at Notre Dame Stadium on September 8, 2018 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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CLEMSON, SC – OCTOBER 20: Wide receiver Tee Higgins #5 of the Clemson Tigers makes a reception in the open field against the North Carolina State Wolfpack during the football game at Clemson Memorial Stadium on October 20, 2018 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Mike Comer/Getty Images)
CLEMSON, SC – OCTOBER 20: Wide receiver Tee Higgins #5 of the Clemson Tigers makes a reception in the open field against the North Carolina State Wolfpack during the football game at Clemson Memorial Stadium on October 20, 2018 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Mike Comer/Getty Images) /

Clemson Keys To Victory

Big Play Receivers 

While all the talk on offense has been in the direction of freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the young gunslinger has a pair of big play receivers at this disposal that has made this a manageable season for him.

Receivers Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross combined for 86 receptions and 16 touchdowns this season while both are averaging over 15 yards per reception on the season. Higgins was instrumental in the ACC title game win over Pittsburgh with two touchdown catches and has 100-yard contests against North Carolina State and South Carolina while Ross has five games this season of at least three catches recorded while averaging over 15 yards per reception during the game.

The task will be for this tag team to stretch the Notre Dame defense and allow the Clemson offense to find rhythm early on.

Aggressive Front Seven 

Stop me if you have heard this before but the Clemson front seven is pretty good.

Led by a defensive line that houses a unanimous All-American, a consensus All-American, and a pair of All-ACC selectees, the Clemson front seven is as elite as they come. As mentioned earlier, this defense was second in all of FBS in tackles for loss and a gigantic reason why is because of the ferocity of the Clemson front seven.

Look for the group to attack Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book and bottle up what has quietly been a good rushing attack by the Fighting Irish.

Mistake-Free Lawrence 

Head coach Dabo Swinney envisioned his freshman quarterback to guide the Tigers to great heights when he made the switch to Lawrence early in the season as the full-time starter. It’s not difficult to compute that Lawrence has grabbed that mantle and has been a productive catalyst for the team with 24 touchdown passes and just four interceptions.

In seven of the past nine games played, Lawrence did not throw an interception. Just as the quarterback across from him, this is a bigger stage than what he has seen over the course of the season.

Can Lawrence maintain his efficiency against the 20th ranked defense in the country?

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