Notre Dame picked up its sixth win of the season and fifth in the ACC last week to set up for tonight’s showdown with No. 1 ranked Clemson in South Bend.

Clemson enters undefeated in seven games and is the favorite in this prime time matchup that will be broadcast nationally by NBC.

The Notre Dame win over Georgia Tech was not perfect as the offense looked good at times but then made mistakes and got a little sloppy. It is also apparent from the win, and prior victories, that the Irish are going to have to depend on its defense to carry the load tonight.

Against Georgia Tech, ND did have some problems. First a fumble inside the red zone that resulted with Yellow Jackets returning it for 93 yard touchdown, and a missed connection on what should have been an easy TD pass were the two biggest.

ND can not make those types of errors against a team like Clemson, which has been installed as a 9-point favorite in South Bend.

The Irish offense entered the game No. 6 in the nation in overall time of possession at 34:11 per game, and No. 5 in the nation in both average time of a possession and third-down efficiency. ND will need to improve on those figures to complete with Clemson. ND has improved since the Louisville game in red zone efficiency and that has to also continue tonight.

ND’s defense under Clark Lea has been improving every year. Lea’s defense had held 31 of its last 32 opponents under 30 points and averages 10.3 points yielded per game this year.

Ian Book finished with 18 completions on 26 attempts for 199 yards and a TD. He also rushed for 46 yards on nine carries. Important to note, no interceptions.

More game stats later.

Clemson, of course, is ND toughest challenge so far this year. The Tigers will be without their Heisman trophy candidate QB Trevor Lawrence, who missed last week’s game against Boston College due to COVID-19. Because of the restrictions in place by the ACC, he won’t be available tonight.

After a slow start, his back up, freshman D.J. Uiagalelei, led the Tigers back last week after being down 18 points to BC. He finished with 342 passing yards and 25 rushing yards, with two passing TDs and one running TD. Also, Clemson running back Travis Etienne totaled 224 yards of offense and two TDs on the day he broke the ACC career rushing record of 4,602 yards.

In addition to Lawrence, Clemson will be without three key defensive players tonight with linebackers James Skalski and Mike Jones and defensive tackle Tyler Davis all sidelined with injuries.

Clemson owns victories over Wake Forest, 37-13; Citadel, 49-0; Virginia, 41-23; Miami, 42-17; Georgia Tech, 73-7; Syracuse, 47-21; and Boston College, 34-28. The game that standouts it the Georgia Tech rout and the win over Miami.

Clemson leads the series with the Irish, 3-1, winning the last three games played between the schools including 2018 playoff match. ND’s only win was in 1977, 21-17.

The game is on NBC with a 7:40 p.m. kickoff.

IRISH NOTES ... Kyren Williams led the Irish rushing with 76 yards on 15 carries and two TDs with C’Bo Flemister getting 58 yards on 15 carries and a score. Javon McKinley caught five passes for 93 yards ... Defensively Kyle Hamilton had six tackles, Jack Kiser, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Daelin Hayes all had five tackles. ND had 426 yards of total offense ... ND has the longest active winning streak among FBS schools at 12 consecutive victories. The Irish have started 6-0 for the fourth time under head coach Brian Kelly ... Georgia Tech entered the game ranked No. 1 in the ACC with just 1.67 sacks allowed per game. ND got five, including two from Hayes ... If you’re wondering what happened to senior running back Jafar Armstrong, he has been moved to wide receiver. His playing time has been limited this year due to the play of Williams, Chris Tyree and Flemister. He had his breakout season in 2018 but lately been used only with games that are out of reach ... Notre Dame ranks in the top 10 in the country in virtually every significant defensive statistic, but Irish defenders are nowhere near the top of many of the individual defensive statistics rankings ... Hayes was named the ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week for his performance against Georgia Tech. He tallied five tackles, two sacks and two forced fumbles in the Irish victory ... Here is a COVID-19 update for ND. A total of 240 COVID-19 tests were administered from last Tuesday through Sunday with one player testing positive. He did not make the trip to Georgia Tech. Two players are currently isolation while another is in quarantine due to contact tracing ... Notre Dame senior walk-on running back Cameron Ekanayake has been named a Rhodes Scholar finalist. He is a science-business major. He’s the second Notre Dame player of the Brian Kelly era to be named a Rhodes Scholar finalist, joining former wide receiver Corey Robinson ... Clemson is a nine-point favorite tonight despite the loss of some key players. That should tell you that the Tigers are loaded with talent and can replace a missing star with another ... ND’s struggles on offense will be the key tonight. Because of that, a Irish victory is squarely on the shoulders of the defense. In my preseason picks I have Clemson winning tonight. No reason to change that.