Note: The following appears in the Virginia football gameday program.
Editor’s Note – Last season, Dabo Swinney became the winningest coach in Clemson history when he led the Tigers to a win over Notre Dame. It was his 166th career win, one more than Frank Howard had between 1940-69. In each gameday program this season, Tim Bourret reviews an important victory in Swinney’s head-coaching career. Today, we recall Clemson’s win over Notre Dame in 2015.
The 2015 game between Notre Dame and Clemson on the night of Oct. 3, 2015 was epic on many fronts. The game’s status was up in the air as late as Oct. 1, when Clemson graduate and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley declared South Carolina in a state of emergency, as the threat of Hurricane Joaquin became more and more dangerous.
The game itself was played in near hurricane conditions, as nearly four inches of rain fell in Clemson that day.
The official attendance for the game was 84,892, but many more have claimed to be in attendance. It was one of those games you will tell your friends about for the rest of the your life.
This was also a historic day in Death Valley because of the talent on the field. No fewer than 52 players on the rosters, 27 from Notre Dame and 25 from Clemson, went on to play at least one NFL game. That broke the record for future NFL players in a game in Death Valley, 16 more than the 36 who played when Notre Dame faced Clemson in 1977.
The game received national hype, because ESPN College GameDay decided to make Clemson the epicenter of the college football world. Fittingly, ESPN selected The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore to be the guest picker.
Notre Dame was 4-0 and ranked No. 6 in the AP poll, while Clemson was 3-0 and ranked No. 11.
The State newspaper ran a pregame story by Ed McGranahan titled, “Is This Clemson’s Biggest Game Ever?”
For once, a game lived up to its hype.
Clemson jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first seven minutes. Deshaun Watson ran 38 yards on the game’s first play and ended the drive with a touchdown pass to Jordan Leggett.
The Tigers scored a possession later when Watson hit Artavis Scott with a 13-yard touchdown pass. Notre Dame fans who had traveled to see this game were wondering why they spent all this money.
After a Notre Dame field goal and a scoreless second quarter, Clemson scored again on its first possession of the third quarter. Tiger placekicker Ammon Lakip forced a fumble by C.J. Sanders on the second-half kickoff, and three plays later, Watson scored on a 21-yard run to give Clemson an 18-point lead.
From there, Clemson scored just three more points and Notre Dame’s offense moved the ball behind DeShone Kizer, who had 321 passing yards in the game, 100 of which went to running back C.J. Prosise, the first Notre Dame running back to total 100+ receiving yards in a game since 1970.
Prosise’s biggest play was a 56-yard reception from Kizer with 14 minutes left to make the score 21-9. Brian Kelly mysteriously went for a two-point conversion, which failed when Corey Robinson, son of NBA great David Robinson, could not make a catch in the endzone.
The Fighting Irish scored again on a three-yard run by Kizer with nine minutes left. The weather caught up to the Fighting Irish in the fourth quarter, as they committed two turnovers, one a fumble on Clemson’s two by Chris Brown, the only Palmetto State native on Notre Dame’s roster.
Linebacker B.J. Goodson forced two turnovers in the fourth quarter, the first Tiger to do that in the fourth quarter of a one-score Clemson victory since Terry Kinard had two fourth-quarter interceptions at Notre Dame in 1979.
Still, the Fighting Irish got the ball back with 65 seconds left. They used 58 of them to drive for a touchdown, a one-yard pass from Kizer to Torii Hunter Jr., the son of a former MLB player.
That touchdown made the score 24-22 with seven seconds left. Notre Dame had to go for two to tie the score. Kelly decided to call the same play Kizer had scored on earlier in the quarter.
A look at the video shows that all five Notre Dame offensive linemen on the field for the play went on to play in the NFL. Clemson’s defensive front for the play featured Christian Wilkins, Shaq Lawson, Kevin Dodd and Carlos Watkins, all future NFL players, three of whom are still playing. It might have been the greatest collision of talent in the history of Death Valley.
The Tiger defense, led by Dodd, Watkins and linebacker Ben Boulware, won the battle as Kizer was stopped short.
The television cameras showed an emotional Dabo Swinney in a crouched position. He was thinking of his father, Ervil, who had passed away the previous summer. His father, a longtime Alabama fan who had watched Bear Bryant go 0-4 against Notre Dame, had wanted to live long enough to see this game.
Swinney knew his father was looking down, very proud of what his son had just accomplished.
