SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Marcus Freeman went above and beyond.
When Notre Dame’s head coach was asked Thursday about Clemson’s reputation for stealing opponents' sideline signals — which demonstrates the play call for the 11 Irish players on the field — he said they’d have the plan to prevent it ... no matter the opponent.
No. 4 Clemson, who lost 35-14 to unranked Notre Dame on Saturday night in upset fashion, was no exception.
“(We’ll) continue to switch signals,” Freeman said earlier in the week, “Continue to switch who’s live (as opposed to dummy sign callers) and have a great plan in terms of how we're going to be able to communicate with the guys on the field, what we want them to do.
“That's every week,” he continued. “It's not a Clemson thing. That’s an every-week thing in terms of if you don't think it's real, then you're probably getting your signals stolen.”
Whether or not he believed it wasn’t something unique to the Tigers, Freeman signed off on the defensive coaching staff’s efforts to go to great lengths to prevent their defensive play calls from being swiped.
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On Saturday, defensive coordinator Al Golden assigned three signal callers — seemingly one giving the live signals with two others showing dummy signs — to direct the defense. Each signal caller wore a different colored shirt, making the live signal caller identifiable to the defense ... and perhaps unidentifiable to Clemson.
But those shirts weren’t worn by the same person every series.
After each defensive drive, the three mysterious Irish signal callers ran underneath the medical tent and swapped shirt colors. They even changed one colored shirt from red to blue in the second half.
And apparently, the creative and valiant effort worked.
In Clemson starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei’s first career start in 2020, he threw for a career-high 439 passing yards at Notre Dame Stadium. With a new defensive approach about two years later, the Irish defense held Uiagalelei to 191 yards and a touchdown. Uiagalelei's score came with 1:35 left in the game.
The Tigers starting offense even sought a spark by inserting freshman quarterback Cade Klubnik. Only to have his one throw picked off by freshman cornerback Benjamin Morrison.
Whatever was happening on the Clemson sideline did not work. And whatever was happening on the Notre Dame sideline did.
The Irish held Clemson to a season-low 281 yards, earning approval and praise from Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney. The two-time College Football Champion faced Freeman, a first-year head coach, for the first time.
“He’s a very sharp coach,” Swinney said. “He’s done a great job again. And I saw that. Coming into this, they won five out of their last six. They responded to a lot of disappointment. … They were a very well-coached team out there tonight.”
Last laugh
The first half concluded with senior defensive lineman Jayson Ademilola on his back.
After the Clemson offensive line surrendered its second and final sack of the second quarter, Tigers junior offensive lineman Walker Parks showed frustration by knocking down Ademilola as the team headed to the locker room.
Parks’ temper led to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which gave Irish freshman kicker Zac Yoakam a chance to kick off from the 50-yard line to start the second half. On Clemson’s first offensive play of the quarter, Ademilola collected a solo tackle.
Ademilola finished the game with another solo tackle and quarterback hurry. The Clemson O-line let up a season-high four sacks.
Bright future
Notre Dame welcomed about 60 recruits to campus for the program’s biggest recruiting weekend of the season.
As Rivals’ No. 14 prospect in the 2024 class, Saline (Mich.) High and Notre Dame commit CJ Carr was the top-ranked recruit in South Bend. He made it to campus after his junior season ended Friday night against Belleville (Mich.) High, the No. 1 team in the state.
Carr gave Irish fans a glimpse of what to look forward to when he enrolls in January 2024. The 6-foot-3, 180-pound, four-star passer led the Saline Hornets to 44 points. Entering the game, Belleville had held opposing teams to 7.4 points per game.
Notre Dame’s future quarterback finished 37-of-53 passing (69.8%) for 383 yards and five touchdowns in his junior season finale.
On Carr’s second game day visit this season, 263 of ND’s 348 yards came on the ground. Starting quarterback Drew Pyne was 9-of-17 (52.9%) for 85 yards and one passing touchdown. Pyne also recorded his first career rushing touchdown.
Besides Carr, several marquee Notre Dame commits made their first game day visit to South Bend this college football season. Four-stars Jaiden Ausberry, Peyton Bowen, Braylon James, Brandon Davis-Swain and Owen Wafle were among the top commits in attendance.
Currently, ND has the No. 3 recruiting class in the 2023 Rivals team rankings and the No. 1 2024 class.
Hash marks
- Notre Dame has won 27 consecutive regular-season games against ACC opponents. It is now 3-4 all-time against Clemson.
- The Irish victory was the first time they beat AP Top 25 opponents in back-to-back weeks since 2018 when the Irish knocked off No. 7 Stanford and No. 24 Virginia Tech. Saturday was Freeman's first win against a top-five opponent.
- Notre Dame's sixth blocked punt of the season extended its modern-era school record, which began in 1937. Junior Jordan Botelho blocked the first punt of his career. And sophomore Prince Kollie returned it for his first career touchdown.
- In addition to his first career interception and then later first career touchdown, freshman cornerback Benjamin Morrison registered a career-high seven tackles.
- Junior tight end Michael Mayer had one record mark left to achieve in his career, and he did it on Notre Dame's final touchdown of the game. When Mayer crossed the goal line with 4:16 remaining, he became ND's all-time leader in tight end touchdown receptions. Mayer now holds the season and career records for tight end receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. He has caught a pass in all 33 games he's played in at ND.
- Senior defensive end Isaiah Foskey put himself one sack away from eclipsing Justin Tuck (2002-04) for the Notre Dame career sacks record. Foskey brought down Uiagalelei on the final play of the first half to bring his career total to 24 sacks.
- The following Notre Dame players moved up in the all-time games played rankings. A breakdown is provided below.
- Former Irish standouts Nick McCloud, Julian Love, Jaylon Smith and Miles Boykin were in attendance and recognized on the video board during the first quarter. Notre Dame's all-time winningest quarterback, Ian Book, was spotlighted and interviewed during the second quarter.
- The following NFL representatives were listed on the press box seating chart: Dan Colbert (Steelers), Steve Hutchinson (Seahawks), Minh Luu (Dolphins), Eloy Ledesma (Lions), Joe Marchert (Lions), Don Muhlbach (Lions), Kasia Omilian (Colts), Bobby Vega (Ravens) and Dan Zegars (Browns).
- With the Houston Astros winning the World Series on Saturday night with the help of former Irish standouts Trey Mancini and Brandon Bielak, Notre Dame became the first school to beat an AP Top 5 opponent in football and have a former baseball player win the World Series on the same day.
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