Notre Dame head coach says Clemson is still a premier college football program

Freeman says that Clemson has had a unique season. (Photo: Michael Caterina / USATODAY)

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Nov 01 07:00:06 GMT-04:00 2023

Clemson has stumbled out to a 4-4 record, but Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman says the Tigers are still one of the premier programs in college football.

The Tigers and Fighting Irish kick off at noon on Saturday (ABC).

"I view Clemson as one of the premier programs in college football. What Coach (Dabo) Swinney has done with that program over the course of his time has been second to no other program in college football. It’s extremely impressive,” Freeman said this week. “They’ve recruited at a high level. They have an unbelievable culture, and they play at a high level. That's what I want to make sure everybody in our program understands. Don’t let the 4-4 record reflect the team. Just watch the film.

“They are as talented as any team we’ve faced this year across the board. We have to understand it. I’ve never personally been to Clemson. We have some coaches on our staff - Coach (Chansi) Stuckey played at Clemson. We have players who have played there that continue to remind us of the challenging environment it will be. Any great competitor is going to look forward to the opportunity to go down there and play.”

Freeman said Clemson’s season to date is hard to describe.

"We understand the challenge. We have to understand the challenge to go down there. They’ve had a unique season as you look at their record versus what the film shows and really what the games tell you as you watch them,” he said. “Those four losses, two of them were in overtime where they were leading in the fourth quarter. The first game of the year versus Duke, the turnovers in the red zone were a unique situation. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a game like that. Then last week, if you just read the stats, they’d tell you they probably should have won that game. I think probably the turnovers ended up costing them that game. This is a talented football team. We understand the challenge that it will be present on Saturday down at Clemson. We have to continue to go back to work, prepare and make sure we’re ready to go on Saturday.”

Freeman then went in-depth on the Clemson offense.

"I think it’s the ability to run the ball. That’s what you’ve seen them put a bigger emphasis on - the running game in their offense,” he said. “They have threats downfield, but I think what they’re trying to do is continuously find ways to run the football with two backs, one back. I don’t know exactly what we’ll get depending on what happens with No. 1 (Will Shipley) being able to play or not. It’s an interesting part of their offense and what they’re going to do if they have one back or two backs. I think that presents some challenges in the run fits.”

On quarterback Cade Klubnik, Freeman said he sees the first-year growing pains but also sees a ton a talent.

“He’s a talented player. I heard Coach Swinney say there is nothing like experience,” Freeman said. “You have to go through some of the ups and downs of being a first-year starter in the ACC and college football. He’s as talented of a quarterback as you’ll see. He’s a really good player, and I know they’ve had some turnovers, but what you realize is that not all turnovers are on the quarterback even though they take the blame for it. He’s a really good player that can really run an elite offense.”

How will the Irish gameplan for the Clemson offense?

"It’ll be a little different because they have a new offensive coordinator. A lot of the players are the same. It’s the same defensive coordinator, but offensively - people will say it’s just USC. It’s Clemson. He has his own wrinkles in terms of what they’re doing offensively,” Freeman said. “That presents its own challenges for our defense. Offensively, we’ve seen them. They’re really good at what they do. They’re aggressive. They give you multiple different looks. It’s a challenge even though we played them last year, the same defense. It’s going to be a huge challenge for our offense.”