Budding dynasty? Clemson freshmen Lawrence, Ross shine in rout of Notre Dame
Sorry, college football. Specifically you, South Carolina and the ACC: Clemson isn’t going away anytime soon.
All you had to do is watch the Cotton Bowl on Saturday.
The Tigers had a freshman quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, picking apart a Notre Dame secondary that held opponents to less than 200 yards passing a game this season.
Clemson, which has won four-straight ACC titles, had a freshman wide receiver, Justyn Ross, set the Cotton Bowl record for most yards receiving in the first half.
And then the Tigers had a sophomore running back, Travis Etienne, setting a school rushing record in the second half.
Notre Dame had no chance as Clemson thoroughly whipped the Irish in every facet of a 30-3 victory at AT&T Stadium.
“We dominated,” said Ross, who had a team-high 148 yards receiving and two TDs. “It really shows our maturity and how we come together as a team and as an offense. Even though we’re young, we know what we’re doing. We know what it takes.”
The Tigers, who have eight-consecutive 10-win seasons, are headed to the national championship game on Jan. 7 for the third time in four years, and could/should build upon that momentum for seasons to come.
Clemson is 54-4 over the last four seasons. Fifty-four and four.
And it has an immediate Heisman frontrunner at QB in Lawrence, the consensus top overall recruit from a year ago.
Lawrence, the recipient of the Sanford Trophy as the Outstanding Offensive Player, threw three first-half touchdowns, including two to Ross. Ross made a nice adjustment on a 52-yard TD early in the second quarter, the first touchdown of the game, and then raced away on a 42-yard score with 1:44 left.
“Trevor, he’s great,” Ross said. “Like every ball he throws is almost perfect. You have to try to drop his ball.”
Ross’ second TD gave Clemson a 16-3 lead, and it tacked on one more before halftime on a 19-yard pass from Lawrence to sophomore Tee Higgins (who dropped a TD pass earlier in the game).
Ross finished the first half with 137 yards receiving, a Cotton Bowl record.
Etienne then starred in the second half. He had a 62-yard rushing TD in the third quarter, the longest running play the Irish have allowed this season.
Etienne finished with 109 yards rushing on 14 carries. He’s just the second running back to top the 100-yard mark against Notre Dame, joining Navy’s Malcolm Perry (133 yards rushing). Etienne also set Clemson’s single-season rushing record on the day. He now has 1,572 on the season, breaking Wayne Gallman’s previous record of 1,527.
Considering Lawrence, Ross, Higgins and Etienne are all underclassmen, the future is bright for Clemson. Oh, yes, and that’s just on offense.
The Tigers have been known for their defensive line much of this season – and they shined, too, as Clemson had six sacks and limited Notre Dame to 88 rushing yards.
Clemson finished with 538 yards of total offense, the most Notre Dame has given up this season. The previous high was USC’s 443.
“Clemson was extremely smart and opportunistic in taking advantage of some things schematically today,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. “They did a great job of pushing the ball vertically in some opportunistic situations.”
This story was originally published December 29, 2018 at 7:10 PM.