In the midst of a hurricane, Clemson defeated Notre Dame 24-22 with the entire nation watching. There was not a lull in the rain for the entire three hours and 20 minutes, and the heavy rainfall forced Clemson to rely on their running game more than usual to solidify the win.

Although it was originally stated that the Tigers recorded just under 200 rushing yards, it was announced that a 13-yard play by running back Wayne Gallman was mistaken as a pass-play rather than a run.

“We played really, really well,” center Jay Guillermo said. “We actually had over 200 yards of rushing. That’s always, as an offensive line, our goal every game to get over 200 yards rushing. That put Wayne over 100 yards so that is another thing that is one of our goals.

“We feel as if we played really well. They have a fantastic defensive line. They are deep.”

The Tigers (4-0, 1-0 ACC) rushed for 212 yards officially, with Gallman rushing for 111 of those yards. It was the second straight game in which he rushed for 100 or more yards in a game. He had 139 at Louisville.

Co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said the original game plan did not focus on the run game as heavily as it did on Saturday, but the weather forecast started to change the game plan mid-week. Scott was proud of the way the team responded.

“We’ve been able to win two big games by running the football,” Scott said. “I think it is really good for us, to be honest, to have to count on those guys up front.”

Guillermo took over the starting center role when senior Ryan Norton got injured before Louisville, and he has been doing a great job of snapping the ball. He was especially praised for his performance against Notre Dame when he did not have a single bad snap in the pouring rain.

Guillermo mentioned he enjoyed having the pressure of making holes for the running backs to win the game with the run.

“I’m perfectly okay with us running the ball,” Guillermo said. “We love games where it is going to rain and we know we are going to run the ball more. For an offensive lineman, that is on our shoulders. We want to be able to carry the team, so I enjoy that, but at the same time, I know we have that big play ability.”

For the second game in a row, the offensive line has not allowed quarterback Deshuan Watson to be sacked. Watson averaged 5.8 yards per carry against the Irish, and that is a credit to both Watson’s performance and how well the offensive line has been blocking for him.

“That guy, he’s just got a mentality that nobody can stop us. He is unbelievable to be honest. He is so cool and calm,” Guillermo said. “That’s something that you like to see especially as an offensive lineman. For him to be so calm, it means that he has trust in his offensive line to block for him. He prepares really well and he knows what he has to do.”

Although Clemson is coming off of a major win that helped them jump up six places in the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll, the Tigers know that they have a lot of games left to play in to reach their goals, so they cannot become complacent.

“We’ve got league play pretty much all the way out,” Guillermo said. “That’s one of our goals, to win the division, to win the ACC, so we still have goals that we want to meet and we know what we have to do to meet those goals.”