The No. 12 Clemson Tigers will host the sixth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday, and Clemson safety Jayron Kearse might be expecting a literal fight or two.
According to Eric Boynton of the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, the hard-hitting junior said he hopes the referees keep the flags in their pockets and allows the teams to be physical.
https://twitter.com/ericjboynton/status/648544780868288512
In most cases, a comment like Kearse’s is the result of a previous meeting or because the matchup is an established rivalry.
However, neither of those are true. Notre Dame is slated to play a handful of ACC teams every year due to an official agreement, but these two programs have only met in 1977 and 1979.
There’s no recent bad blood or classic hatred. Rather, Kearse understands the magnitude of this game against an opponent with which Clemson is not familiar. The Tigers are a College Football Playoff contender, and Notre Dame is the type of team Clemson must beat to back up the hype.
Notre Dame has lost its starting quarterback, running back tight end and a handful of other key players, yet the Irish are still 4-0 with respectable victories over Texas and Virginia as well as an impressive win over Georgia Tech.
The primetime battle will be broadcast on ABC at 8 p.m. ET, and if Kearse has his way, it’ll be a physical one.