Notre Dame-Clemson: November Prosperity
The Notre Dame-Clemson showdown this weekend brings a host of positive streaks from both teams.
• Clemson has won a school-record 39 straight regular-season contests (including ACC title games), while Notre Dame last week achieved a program-record 30 straight victories against unranked foes — second-longest currently to Alabama’s NCAA record 95.
• The Fighting Irish enter the contest with the second-longest current winning streak at home at 22 — behind only Clemson’s 27.
• Somewhat under the radar is that while third down is referred to as the “money down” in a football game, November is the “money month” of college football to establish one’s finishing touches to the regular season — although in the Year of COVID-19, that’s being extended to December in 2020.
Clemson has won 14 straight contests in the month of November that dates back to 2016, a 43-42 loss at home to Pitt it was able to overcome while on its march to the program’s first national title in 35 years.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame also owns a nine-game winning streak in the month of November after finishing 5-0 last season and 4-0 in 2018.
This is particularly significant because in the previous five years from 2013-17, head coach Brian Kelly’s Irish faltered badly while producing a 9-12 output in November.
One of the myriad changes in the infrastructure after the 4-8 debacle in 2016 was placing a premium on remaining relatively fresh and charged — emotionally and physically — in November.
Last year marked the first 5-0 November for Notre Dame since 1930, which resulted in a national title for Knute Rockne’s final team. Recently, Kelly’s squads have been built to thrive in November, and part of it is by not overthinking or implementing radical change.
“In terms of who you are, your scheme and what you’re doing week in and week out, we both are who we are,” Kelly said of the Clemson matchup. “It will come down to the execution of those schemes more than anything else. … We’re not coming out in split back and running the veer.
“They’re certainly not going to come back and change what they do, even if Trevor Lawrence was the quarterback. They’re going to be who they are.”
Notre Dame’s back-to-back unbeaten Novembers in 2018-19 were the first by the program since 1972 (3-0) and 1973 (3-0) — although the 1972 team did lose the regular-season finale at No. 1 USC (45-23) on Dec. 2.
The current nine-game winning streak in the month of November actually is the longest since the nine in a row from 1972-74 (again excluding the December game at USC in 1972).
The school record is 16 from 1946-50, which began after the scoreless tie with No. 1 Army in 1946 and ended with a tie versus Iowa in 1950.
Notre Dame has not had three straight unbeaten Novembers since 1947-49. (The 1948 tie at USC was in December.)
The longest November/December regular-season winning streak since the current one was 10 consecutive from 1953-55.
This November presents far greater challenges with No. 1 Clemson followed by a trip to Boston College — known to catch the Fighting Irish in letdowns in the past, especially after playing No. 1 — and then a Nov. 27 encounter at North Carolina, which had been vying for top-10 status earlier in the year but has faltered on defense. Still, it’s a road game against the second-best offense the Irish will face this regular season, with both teams having a bye on Nov. 21 before their matchup.
So while Kelly is not mitigating the enormous opportunity versus the Tigers this weekend, he is emphasizing “emotional mastery” in the consistent approach to competition over the long haul.
“This isn’t a destination point for us this weekend,” Kelly said. “We’ve got many more games. We’re playing for a conference championship. It’s not like when we were an independent and you need to get these games and validate your place in the college football playoffs.
“We’re looking at winning the conference championship. We have five conference games left, and they all count as one. I know it’s the No. 1 team in the country. Our guys know it’s the No. 1 team in the country. They’re excited about that opportunity.
“But it counts as one, and so you have to be able to balance that off because the next week gets at you immediately. If you empty the tank this weekend and don’t have anything left for BC, they’re going to beat you — flat out. There has to be a measure of emotional mastery here where you understand the opponent, you’re excited about it, but you have to play your best.
“That’s what we’ve been building up for, that competitive greatness on Saturday — but still understanding that there’s a lot of football still in front of us.”
Get through that unscathed and it will indeed be a November to remember.
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