During his Always College Football show, ESPN analyst Greg McElroy previewed today’s matchup pitting Clemson against No. 15 Notre Dame.

McElroy will serve as the color commentator for ABC’s broadcast of the contest between the Tigers (4-4) and Fighting Irish (7-2) at Death Valley.

“It’s going to be a blast to be there,” McElroy said. “I can’t wait to be there for Notre Dame and Clemson. … I think this one’s going to be a photo finish and one that should be decided in the fourth quarter.”

McElroy broke down what he views as two “really similar” teams, with one of the similarities being the subpar play he’s seen from their respective receiving corps.

“I look at Notre Dame’s offense, and right now, just lacking a little bit of consistency… Notre Dame’s wide receivers have been disappointing,” McElroy said. “And now you take it one step further, they will be without the services of (tight end) Mitchell Evans, and this is a significant loss (season-ending ACL injury suffered last week vs. Pitt). If you look at their distribution chart this year, especially on third down, Mitchell Evans is without question the most reliable and most targeted pass catcher for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. And this is a group that prior to last week against Pitt, they’ve struggled to be consistent pushing the ball down the field. What does this kind of sound like? It sounds a little bit like Clemson.

“Clemson has had an underwhelming wide receiver performance so far this year. Now Beaux Collins, it appears like he’s becoming a little bit more of a feature guy. Jake Briningstool, the tight end, he’s become more of a feature guy. They’ve tried to get Tyler Brown in there some, but they’ve had a couple hamstring issues and they’ve had some guys that have been in add out of the lineup. But collectively, just like Notre Dame, the receivers have not played up to their standard.”

McElroy added that Clemson and Notre Dame not only mirror each other from the standpoint of their “underwhelming” receiver play, but also because “they are really made along the defensive line.”

“The strength of both teams is along the defensive line,” he said. “Notre Dame does have an advantage with their defensive line against Clemson’s offensive line. Now Clemson’s tinkered with a couple of spots. They’ve moved their left tackle (Tristan Leigh) to right guard, they try to get their best five on the field. But Notre Dame’s defensive line has been every bit as advertised this year, and in some ways, better than even I anticipated coming into the season. That group can take over the game.

“Conversely, Notre Dame’s offensive line has been very good. Very solid. Anchored by Joe Alt at left tackle, they’ll have their hands full against a Clemson defensive line that while the rest of the defense maybe has had some ups and downs, the defensive line has been outstanding. The linebackers have been very solid, and in coverage they’ve been pretty solid as well.”

As for one significant difference between the Tigers and Fighting Irish this season?

“The one thing Notre Dame hasn’t done is they haven’t really beaten themselves with turnovers. That’s been the story for Clemson up to this point,” McElroy said. “They have won the turnover battle just twice this year. Both wins were convincing. One was against Syracuse, the other was against FAU. They were plus three against FAU, plus two against Syracuse. They have lost the turnover margin in all other games – six games in which they were minus one or worse in the turnover margin.

“And if you look at when some of those fumbles have occurred, they’ve occurred in the red zone, specifically inside the 10-yard line of the opposing defense. That can’t happen against Notre Dame. It cannot happen against Notre Dame.”

Overall, Clemson is minus three in turnover margin for the season. The Tigers have committed 15 turnovers in eight games and turned the ball over twice in last week’s 24-17 loss at NC State, with those turnovers leading to 14 points for the Wolfpack.

Both turnovers were interceptions thrown by Cade Klubnik, including a pick-six in the third quarter that gave NC State a 10-point lead. Klubnik went 33-of-50 passing for 263 yards against the Wolfpack and has thrown three total interceptions in the past two games.

“Cade Klubnik doesn’t appear at the moment like he’s as confident as he needs to be,” McElroy said. “He’s got great physical ability. He’s great when it comes to running around and creating opportunities. But he does have the occasional miss that is significant, and some of those misses last week resulted in either missed big plays, but also an interception where he airmails it to Briningstool on an over route and it’s picked off by the safety that’s in coverage.”

Notre Dame is a three-point favorite entering today’s game, which is set to kick off at noon.

Clemson leads the all-time series 4-3. Four of the five all-time on-campus regular season meetings between the Tigers and Irish have been decided by one possession, and McElroy believes this year’s game will be closely contested as well.

“These are two teams that love to get it done on the defensive side of the football,” McElroy said. “But if Clemson can avoid the critical mistake, this game should be one that goes down to the wire.”

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