The Common Thread: Clemson and Notre Dame
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This afternoon when No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Notre Dame hit the field at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, both will enter as undefeated teams. It would seem that both are playing their best football as we enter the College Football Playoff, which is what you want to see at this point in the year.
But there’s one other thing these teams have in common: They both made a change at quarterback during the season, which propelled them towards the playoff.
The story of Clemson’s quarterback situation has been well documented. Incumbent, Kelly Bryant started the first four games of the season, then during the Georgia Tech game, Trevor Lawrence, a freshman from Cartersville, GA, delivered four touchdowns in a 49-21 victory over the Yellow Jackets, distancing himself from the senior.
After that win, Lawrence was named the starter for the upcoming matchup against Syracuse. Bryant quickly elected to transfer, leaving Chase Brice as the new backup. That move, shaking up Tiger fans as they pondered the “what if” scenarios of their young starter being injured.
That weekend, the worst-case scenario played out in Death Valley.
During his first start, Lawrence was hit awkwardly as he carried the ball up the sideline, leaving him on the turf in Death Valley for an extended period. As Tiger fans collectively held their breath, Brice came in and led a comeback win, proving that Bryant’s departure wasn’t an impossible hurdle to overcome.
As for Lawrence, outside of that injury, it has been smooth sailing for most of the season.
Throughout his first year, the 6’6 quarterback made things look easy, never seeming rattled. Lawrence completed 65% of his passes and throwing for over 2600 yards and 24 touchdowns en route to winning the ACC Rookie of the Year.
Hunter Renfrow told us Monday that Lawrence doesn’t play like a freshman at all.
“I got to spend some time with him in the quarterback room. And so just seeing from the third week to the fourth week to the fifth week, just how he slowed everything down, how he was able to process everything and really just command the attention of the team,” Renfrow said.
As for Notre Dame, it was Brandon Wimbush who opened the season at quarterback. The senior from Teaneck, NJ, led the Irish to wins in their first three games, just like Bryant had for Clemson, but head coach Brian Kelly needed to see more efficiency on the offensive side of the ball.
Wimbush threw for 589 yards in those three wins, which isn’t a bad start to the season, but looking closer you see why the change was made.
After throwing just one touchdown against Michigan, offset by an interception, Wimbush, who will transfer at the end of the season, tossed three interceptions against Ball State. That game was followed up by a less than stellar performance against Vanderbilt, signaling to Kelly, that something had to be changed if they Irish were going to find their way into the playoffs.
Wimbush was the better running quarterback, there is no doubt about that, but if you’re going to compete in the playoff, as Clemson learned a year ago, you have to be able to stretch the field with the vertical passing game.
“And, you know, even though we had won our first three games, I think -- and one of the games, we played defensively over 90 snaps. So there was a lot of work going into it. So as we evaluated moving forward, we felt like Ian [Book] would give us the best shot at winning each and every week that we played and doing it with more efficiency,” Kelly said.
Ian Book has been the difference for Notre Dame’s offense as the Irish have put up an average of 37.2 points per game in the last nine games. Outside of a 42-10 win over Florida State, where Book sat out with an injury, the quarterback has mastered the offense, including the zone read game, making things click in South Bend.
Both quarterbacks have elevated their level of play, lifting their teams into the College Football Playoff. Changing quarterbacks midseason isn’t something that coaching staffs desire, but for Clemson and Notre Dame, it’s worked out well.
The undefeated ride will end for one of these two quarterbacks later today, but the other will get the chance to etch his name in history facing the winner of No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Oklahoma in the national title game.