Part nine of our look back at 10 of the most crazy, exciting, and impactful games played at Death Valley in the last 20 years…
The 2015 Clemson football team had not gotten the respect they felt they had earned entering the season. Ranked outside the top 10, #12-ranked Clemson would have to prove on the field that they were ready to cement themselves in the conversation as a national championship contender. Clemson prepared for its biggest game of the regular season, at home in Death Valley, on October 3rd, 2015. The #6 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish were making their first trip to Clemson in decades, and the Tigers were going to prove a point, come hell or high water. Before the night was over, high water would prove to be an understatement. Hurricane Joaquin had merged with a low-pressure system just off the South Carolina coast and was dumping torrents of rain on the Palmetto State. As the deluge reached Clemson just after noon on game day, and the rain began to inundate the region, 83,000 fans crammed into Memorial Stadium, battered by the wind and water, and bore witness to what would become not only one of the wildest games in Clemson history, but also in the annals of college football.
Will we even play?…
The forecast was made well in advance. Every weather service knew what was coming and predicted the meteorological onslaught earlier in the week. Up to 10 inches of rain was possible across the entirety of the state. As the days passed, and the forecast grew more dire, there were legitimate concerns that the game would be postponed or cancelled. Notre Dame was, after all, an independent program with no ties to the ACC in football terms. By Friday, with Joaquin bearing down on South Carolina, multiple games across the Carolinas and Southeast were scrubbed. Clemson, however, did not care about the threat of inclement weather. They had their own plans to wreak havoc on the Fighting Irish and those had nothing to do with the imminent storm. Clemson radio play-by-play announcer Don Munson recalled the lead-up to the game years later in 2018.
“I’m going to say 48 hours prior to the game on that Thursday, there was all kinds of speculation the game was going to be canceled,” he said. “That’s what state officials wanted to do. Heck, the governor at that time even said the game shouldn’t be played. There was all kinds of talk. I’m sure there were state officials who said, ‘Probably better if we don’t do this.’ Nah, Clemson was gung-ho on getting it done.”
Wash away the doubts…
There was already widespread flooding taking place across the Upstate by the time kick-off approached. ESPN was on hand with College Game Day to broadcast the contest as their national game of the week, and the television cameras had a first-hand view of Clemson as they raced down the hill in a sideways, wide-driven rainstorm. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly stared wide-eyed at the sight in the opposite tunnel, his awestruck expression captured by the cameras. The Tigers would receive the opening kick-off, and it did not take quarterback DeShaun Watson long to make a statement. Watson marched the Tigers down the field with a carefully methodical offensive approach of conservative runs and short, safe passes. The Tigers advanced to the six-yard line before Watson dumped a pass to tight end Jordan Leggett on the left side who then barreled over the pylon and into the end-zone for the game’s first score. After a quick defensive stop on the ensuing Notre Dame possession, Clemson struck faster than a lightning bolt to up their lead. Again, inside the red zone, Watson hit receiver Artavis Scott with a pass at the five-yard line. Scott shirked two tacklers and powered in for another score. The Tigers led 14-0 less than seven minutes into the game as a raucous crowd drowned out the wind with their roars.
Grinding it out…
The Fighting Irish answered with a 46-yard field goal from Justin Yoon on their second possession, and from there, the game slogged down as expected in the horrendous maelstrom around Death Valley. Neither team would score for the final 20 minutes of the first half, and as the water-logged teams went into the locker room, Clemson led 14-3. The Tigers had dominated the first half, Notre Dame had not been able to gain any footing offensively, and it seemed the Irish were on a slippery slope as the third quarter got underway.
Lakip lowers the boom…
Clemson kicker Ammon Lakip teed the ball up to start the third quarter and planted his leg into the kick, driving it high into the face of the downpour. On the return, Lakip singled out the Notre Dame return man and plowed his helmet right through the ball, knocking it free. The Tigers recovered and now had the ball and a two-possession lead over the reeling Irish. Moments later, Watson cashed in as he raced 21-yards to paydirt to up the Tigers’ advantage to 21-3. Another Notre Dame lost fumble went for naught on the ensuing drive, and even a third consecutive defensive stand by Clemson in the quarter yielded no points. The opportunity that had slipped by to put the game out of reach was about to loom large.
Notre Dame busts loose…
Talented Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer and star running back C.J. Prosise had been quiet up until that moment, but like a strained levee, the Irish were about to break through. On the third play of the fourth quarter, Kizer connected with Prosise on a 56-yard catch and run for the Irish’s first touchdown of the night. The kick failed, however, and Clemson was left with a 21-9 lead with 14:13 left in the game. Greg Huegel knocked home a 35-yard field goal on the Tigers’ next drive, but it would be the final points of the night for Clemson as they led 24-9 with 10:56 left in the game. Notre Dame responded with a long kickoff return, and less than two minutes later, Kizer found the endzone again on a three-yard run. The point after this time was good, and with 9:03 on the clock, it was suddenly a one-possession game.
Give me one more play…
The Tigers would have to hold on for dear life in the final seconds; not an easy thing to do in the less-than-optimal conditions that showed no sign of abating. After both sides traded empty possessions, Notre Dame got the ball back one more time with less than four minutes to play. Kizer engineered a drive into Tiger territory, then into the red-zone, and the Irish were left with time for one more play, from the one-yard line, with 12 seconds remaining. Kizer took the snap and was immediately flushed from the pocket by the Clemson defensive line. He lofted a high, back shoulder fade to the far-right corner of the west endzone. Waiting there was Torii Hunter Jr. who hauled in the heave with seven seconds on the clock. A stunned Memorial Stadium knew what came next. With the score 24-22, Notre Dame had to go for two in order to force overtime. The Tigers were on the ropes, but all they needed was one play. Kizer would try to do it himself this time, taking the snap and running right toward the goal line. Instead, he ran right into the arms of Clemson linebacker Ben Boulware who forced Kizer down at the one, effectively ending the game as the overflow contingent of Orange-clad faithful drowned out the wind one final time with a thunderous roar. Notre Dame attempted an onside kick, easily recovered by Clemson, and the fans rushed onto the saturated field.
Bring your own guts…
As Coach Dabo Swinney met the cameras at midfield, he was asked by ESPN sideline reporter Heather Dinich what he had told his team leading up to the game and before the final, decisive defensive stand. What Swinney said next has lived in Clemson infamy, and on Tigers’ football apparel, ever since.
“What I told them tonight is, we give you scholarships, we give you stipends, meals, and a place to live. We give you nice uniforms, but I can’t give you guts, and I can’t give you heart. And tonight, it was BYOG, bring your own guts! And they brought some guts and some heart and they never quit until the last play!”
Dabo Swinney
Everyone knows what happened in the three months that followed. Clemson finished the regular season undefeated at 12-0, defeated North Carolina to win the ACC championship, then barnstormed past Oklahoma in the first-ever College Football Playoff game for Swinney’s program. The Tigers’ ascent to the #1 ranked team in the land carried them all the way to the national championship game where they fell just five points short of Alabama. But the guts brought by the Tigers on that stormy, wind-blasted night in Death Valley would remain. A season later, in 2016, Clemson reached the mountaintop and avenged their loss to the Crimson Tide to win their first national championship since 1981. Looking back, the game against Notre Dame on October 3rd, 2015, in the harshest of conditions, became one of the final steps on the Tigers’ climb to the pinnacle of college football. Swinney added another Dabo-ism in the jubilation of his postgame interview…
“Rain, sleet, or snow, Tiger Nation, they show!,” he yelled above the throngs of fans that enveloped him.
As the storm raged on well into the night, Notre Dame learned that Hurricane Joaquin had nothing on Hurricane Clemson.
