Players to Watch: Clemson vs. Notre Dame

The Irish (5-3) could be facing more than one opponent when it takes on No. 4 Clemson (8-0) on Saturday night at Notre Dame Stadium.

South Bend weather calls for rainy and cold conditions, including a wind advisory from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET. At kickoff (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC), wind gusts will be swirling at 35 mph, with a 24% chance of rain, according to AccuWeather.

Due to Mother Nature’s unpredictability and both teams’ middling passing offenses, the Irish and Tigers might consider turning toward their run games to carry them in week 10 of this college football season.

Here are the players to watch during Notre Dame’s most anticipated home game in 2022. One in which it will be four-point underdogs, per the Vegas Insider consensus.

The 6-foot, 227-pound Audric Estimé is the first repeat player in Inside ND Sports’ weekly players to watch. And for a good reason.

After he caught a case of the fumbles during weeks 4-8, Notre Dame’s leading rusher responded by rushing a career-high 20 times for 123 yards (6.2 yards per carry) and two touchdowns against then-No. 16 Syracuse on Oct. 29.

Where those fumble woes began was actually where he was at his best Against North Carolina, another ACC opponent, the sophomore running back dashed for a career-high 134 rushing yards and two scores on 17 carries on Sept. 24. His 7.0 yards per carry were a season-high.

But Clemson is a much tougher matchup than the Orange and Tar Heels.

The Tigers pose the country’s No. 7 rushing defense among 131 teams — holding their opponents to 87.9 yards per game. In its last outing against Syracuse, Clemson held the conference’s No. 2 rusher — Sean Tucker — to under 55 yards.

In addition to Estimé, the Irish could rely on sophomore Logan Diggs and junior Chris Tyree on offense with an unreliable passing game and unpredictable weather. The Irish rank No. 106 of 131 teams in passing offense, with an average of fewer than 200 yards per game.

Make no mistake: all eyes will be on Estimé. He has 558 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on 99 carries (5.6 yards per carry) this season. Diggs has 432 yards and five touchdowns, while Tyree has 322 yards and a pair of scores on the ground.

On a ferocious Tigers defensive line, Myles Murphy is the biggest threat.

The 6-5, 275-pound junior is a frequent visitor in opposing offenses’ backfields. He leads the team in tackles for loss (9.0) and sacks (5.5) on a team defense that is No. 7 in tackles for loss per game (8.2) and No. 29 in sacks per game (2.75).

When Murphy played the Irish in South Bend in 2020, the eventual freshman All-America defensive lineman was one of four Tigers to register a tackle for loss and a quarterback hurry. The second time the two teams met that season, Murphy assisted on a sack in the ACC Championship.

This time around, the Notre Dame offensive line should be Murphy’s toughest test of the season.

Coming into Saturday, the Irish front five is No. 10 in tackles for loss allowed per game (3.75) and No. 33 in sacks allowed (1.38). Murphy should see plenty of Notre Dame left tackle Joe Alt, Pro Football Focus’ highest-graded tackle in the FBS.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman gave Clemson’s starting running back so much praise Thursday that it sounded like he was part of his team. And ironically enough, Will Shipley almost became Irish.

In the 2020 recruiting cycle, Notre Dame prioritized Shipley, Rivals’ No. 50 overall player and No. 1 all-purpose running back, but fell short to the Tigers. Saturday will be the first time the Irish face the 5-11, 205-pound sophomore on the football field. Freeman is well aware of the toolbox Clemson's starting running back carries headed into Saturday night.

"He's an ultra-competitive individual,” Freeman said. “I think he runs the ball hard. I think he's fast. I think he has good ball security. I know he lost the first fumble two weeks ago vs. Syracuse. He's a wide receiver threat. He looks extremely smart. He has great yards after contact. I could go on and on.

“I think he's a heck of a football player that Notre Dame obviously wanted before I got here, and you can see why. He's an extremely talented football player."

Through eight weeks of the 2022 college football season, Shipley has averaged 135.25 all-purpose yards per game — a mark that ranks 17th in the country. He’s also in the top 30 in rush yards per carry (6.01 yards, 27th) and rushing touchdowns (10 yards, 14th).

Notre Dame has the No. 49 rushing offense (129.6 yards per game) entering this weekend. The last time Clemson played in South Bend, the Irish held eventual first-round NFL Draft choice Travis Etienne to 28 yards on 18 carries (1.6 yards per carry).

Over the last two weeks, cornerback Clarence Lewis put a slow start to the season behind him with big plays in each of Notre Dame’s games.

Against UNLV, Lewis knocked the football loose from wide receiver Ricky White and recovered the fumble. Then, the 6-foot, 203-pound cornerback blocked a punt last Saturday at Syracuse. He’ll have the chance to make it three big plays in three weeks on Saturday. And it’s against a team he’s performed well against in the past.

In his seventh game as a freshman, Lewis finished fourth on the team against Clemson on Nov. 7, 2020, with five tackles. The next time the Irish played Clemson on Dec. 19, 2020, in the ACC Championship, he was one of four players to record a pass breakup and was tied for fifth on the team with four tackles.

With Cam Hart, Benjamin Morrison and TaRiq Bracy often manning the two cornerback spots and nickel, it will be worth watching how much cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens calls on Lewis — especially with how he’s performed the last two games.

The Notre Dame secondary faces a tough test against Clemson starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei. In his first start — which came at Notre Dame Stadium in 2020 — Uiagalelei threw for a career-high 439 yards.

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