One of the top surprises of the college football offseason was when Clemson running back Travis Etienne decided to delay NFL pursuits and return for his senior year. With the way this season has gone, perhaps the two-time reigning ACC Player of the Year might have privately second-guessed the decision on occasion.

With “only” 758 rushing yards through Clemson’s 10-game regular season, Etienne’s production pace fell well short of last year when he gained 1,614 yards on the ground, averaged 7.8 yards per carry and scored 19 touchdowns on his way to second-team All-America honors. In 2018, he ran for 1,658 yards, 8.1 yards per carry and 24 touchdowns.

But make no mistake, a production slip during this strange season doesn’t diminish how dangerous Etienne is. The ACC’s all-time leading rusher still averages 5.1 yards per carry — a modest total compared to the two previous years — and leads the Tigers with 14 total touchdowns.

In Notre Dame’s first meeting against Clemson on Nov. 7, a 47-40 double-overtime Irish win, controlling Etienne became a top pregame priority. Mission accomplished. Led by senior nose tackle Kurt Hinish and senior linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Notre Dame remarkably held Etienne to only 28 yards on 18 carries — a 1.6-yard average.

Clemson entered this season replacing four starters along the offensive line, while Notre Dame's front seven was replete with seniors and fifth-year seniors. It showed in the way the Irish controlled the line of scrimmage. Seven times Etienne was thrown for lost yardage, and on six other carries he totaled zero to three yards.

Clemson finished with 34 yards (on 33 carries) — the lowest rushing output for the Tigers since Nov. 19, 2011, when it also had 34 yards during a 37-13 loss to North Carolina State and was still in its “Clemsoning” phase.

Junior quarterback Trevor Lawrence, absent in the first game against the Irish because of coronavirus, is expected to open up the running game better with his zone reads and be activated more in the ground attack. He is quite underrated as a runner, totaling 563 yards, 5.5 yards per carry and nine touchdowns last year.

On Dec. 5, he was let loose more in the 45-10 victory at Virginia Tech with seven carries for 41 yards and two scores. Lawrence’s presence should enhance the Tigers’ ground game, but the Irish performance here on Nov. 7 cannot be dismissed.

Advantage: Notre Dame

Lawrence’s path to becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft hit a bump in the road in late October when he tested positive for COVID-19. That sidelined him for a pair of games, including the Tigers’ double-overtime defeat in South Bend.

In the eight games Lawrence has played, it was business as usual. He is averaging 303.9 passing yards per contest and has 20 touchdowns with just three interceptions. Willing to share the wealth, 11 different Clemson pass catchers have a touchdown grab.

Etienne out of the backfield, senior wide receiver Amari Rodgers and fifth-year senior wideout Cornell Powell have been the favorite targets. Rodgers has 61 receptions for 845 yards with six touchdowns, Powell has 41 grabs for 684 yards and five touchdowns, and Etienne has caught 41 passes for 512 yards with two scores.

The Irish coaches became overly familiar with Lawrence in the 2018 College Football Playoff semifinals when the then mega-star freshman hit Notre Dame with 27-of-39 passing for 327 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in a 30-3 Clemson rout.

It’s hard to imagine that Lawrence could have played any better than Clemson backup D.J. Uiagalelei did against Notre Dame in the first meeting. The true freshman passed for 439 yards against the Irish, with Powell and Rodgers combining for 14 catches and 295 receiving yards.

If the Clemson ground attack can this time reach at least triple-digit yardage, that should make Lawrence more efficient as a passer and on third downs — where the Tigers were only 4 of 15 on Nov. 7 — without needing all that yardage through the air.

Advantage: Clemson

With his 20 carries for 110 yards against Syracuse, sophomore running back Kyren Williams recorded his sixth 100-yard rushing performance in 10 games and also eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark on the season.

Even with multiple injuries and lineup shuffling along the Irish offensive line the last two games, Notre Dame hasn’t missed a beat with its ground game. The Irish finished their regular season ranked 11th in the country for rushing at 235.0 yards per game, in no small part because of the complementary work fifth-year senior quarterback Ian Book provides to Williams. Book averaged 63.3 rushing yards over the last four games and added three rushing touchdowns, but his raw production numbers tell only part of the story.

The shifty signal-caller has found a knack for saving his biggest runs for the crucial times, part of the reason why Notre Dame ranks seventh in the country with a 51.4-percent conversion rate on third downs. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney referred to Book’s marvelous sense of the rush and escape skills (67 rushing yards versus Clemson's constant blitzes) as one of the most crucial differences in Notre Dame’s victory last month.

Clemson allows only 105.4 rushing yards per game — No. 12 in the country — but surrendered 208 to the Fighting Irish in the first meeting.

Fifth-year senior linebacker Baylon Spector, who rarely leaves the field, paced the Tigers in total tackles with 57 and added 9.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage during the regular season. Freshman defensive end Myles Murphy has contributed 44 total stops with 10 for lost yardage.

We will call it a draw because of the absence of center Jarrett Patterson on Notre Dame's side, plus the return of Tigers defensive tackle Tyler Davis, an all-conference pick last year, and maybe senior linebacker James Skalski, too. Also, after Williams' first carry on Nov. 7 that jolted the Tigers, Clemson did do a good job of keeping him in check when he was limited to 75 yards on his final 22 attempts.

Advantage: Even

The gripe heading into Notre Dame’s first matchup with Clemson was a lack of production from the Irish wide receivers.

Well, veteran wideouts Javon McKinley and Avery Davis picked a perfect game for a coming-out party, making clutch plays while combining for 13 catches and 213 yards in the upset of the then top-ranked Tigers.

McKinley didn’t stop there and has averaged about six catches and 99 yards in his last four games — with three 100-yard outings — including his 111-yard, three-touchdown performance in the regular-season finale against Syracuse.

Steady all season, Book has thrown for at least 279 yards in five of his last six contests, notably a 22-of-39, 310-yard, one-touchdown passing performance against Clemson in the first meeting.

Highlighted by Clemson senior safety Nolan Turner’s three interceptions, the Tigers have picked off 13 opponent passes this season. And led by 3.5 sacks apiece by Spector and Murphy, Clemson’s talent and depth along its front seven is illustrated by six different players recording at least three sacks in 2020.

Even though we didn't give the edge to Notre Dame here with the rushing attack, we will in this area because of the improvisation skills that Book demonstrated in the first meeting, combined with the overall solid play of the line and the exceptional blitz pick-ups by Williams. They will need a similar effort to justify this edge on paper.

Advantage: Notre Dame

The placekickers for both teams were stellar in the first meeting, with Clemson junior B.T. Potter and Notre Dame senior Jonathan Doerer each converting four field goals in a pulsating contest that left no room for error.

Doerer has converted all 46 of his point-after tries this season, but had some troubling misses while finishing the regular season 14 of 20 on field goals. Potter shares similar numbers, converting 53 of 54 extra points and 16 of 21 field goal attempts.

Notre Dame has been adequate but not spectacular on its punt and kickoff coverage and return teams. The highlight for these Irish units remain the two touchdowns scored off of blocked punts and excellent coverage on both kickoffs and punts

Neither team has allowed or recorded a traditional kickoff or punt return for a touchdown this season.

Advantage: Even

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly entered the first matchup against top-ranked Clemson having lost all five of his previous games against top-five teams by an average score of 31-15.

Kelly lifted that anvil off his back with an upset of Clemson that marked the first victory for Notre Dame over a top-ranked team since 1993, leaving the question of whether the veteran coach can defeat a top-five team twice in a row and two times in one season.

In his 13th year at Clemson, Swinney has cemented his place among the college coaching elite. His Tigers have won at least 12 games in each of the last five seasons, the longest streak of the modern era and only two shy of the seven straight that Penn enjoyed from 1892-98.

Swinney holds the postseason hardware that Kelly still seeks. Both will be enshrined some day in the College Football Hall of Fame, but two national title trophies in the past four years for Swinney have to count for a little more right now.

Both defensive coordinators, Brent Venables at Clemson and Clark Lea at Notre Dame, are as good as it gets. Lea was recently hired to become the next head coach at Vanderbilt, his alma mater, and he and his troops are determined to go out in style this December and January.

Advantage: Clemson

With two national championships in the last four seasons, the Tigers know nothing other than winning. Clemson is favored as of Tuesday night by 10.5 points, mainly because of the return of Lawrence and the revenge motive after losing earlier in the season to the Irish.

Per research done by ESPN’s Sopan Shah, this is the fourth time since the start of the Associated Press poll in 1936 that two top-five teams will meet for a second time in a season with both still in the top five. In each of the first three, the winner of the first game in a close one lost the second by at least 21 points, most recently Alabama defeating LSU for the 2011 national title, 21-0, after losing 9-6 in the regular season.

Conversely, what we feel is getting underrated or overlooked is the hunger and determination of the Notre Dame team. They will not say this publicly, but the constant chatter about Clemson missing vital personnel in the first game is likely fueling the Irish fire tremendously to prove game one was not a fluke.

Based on the eye test and its production profile, this Notre Dame team can play with any opponent in the country. Even with a loss to Clemson, it likely will still be in the College Football Playoff.

Essential elements for Notre Dame to beat Clemson in the first matchup were to start fast, control the line of scrimmage on both sides and win the turnover battle. It accomplished all three. That trifecta checklist remains the same for this game.

One stat of note: Notre Dame ranks seventh in the country on third-down conversions (51.4 percent) and third in third-down conversion defense (26.4 percent). In the first meeting, the Irish held Clemson to just 4 of 15 on third down (26.6 percent) while going 10 of 19 (52.6) itself. If there is such a significant disparity again, the Irish will sweep the Tigers this season.

Advantage: Even

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