Bama’s true freshmen owned 2017’s Playoff. Clemson’s are trying in 2018

Trevor Lawrence and Justyn Ross blew the Cotton Bowl open. Next: trying to beat a bunch of guys one year older than them who made sure Bama won the title a year ago.

Clemson didn’t have star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence in the Cotton Bowl semifinal against Notre Dame, but the Tigers’ No. 1 S&P+ defense was dominant anyway in a 30-3 win.

That wasn’t a surprise. A little more surprising was the Clemson offense having a track meet and getting 6.9 yards per play against Notre Dame’s elite defense. True freshman QB Trevor Lawrence and true freshman receiver Justyn Ross did a lot of the damage, combining for 148 yards and two touchdowns out of Lawrence’s 327 and three in total.

Last year, Alabama won the national title game against Georgia thanks in large part to contributions from Tua Tagovailoa, Alex Leatherwood, Najee Harris, Jerry Jeudy, and DeVonta Smith. Tagovailoa and Smith combined on the winning touchdown in overtime, and those other rookies made big contributions in the second half, too.

Clemson’s getting similar contributions on its current run. If the Tigers can beat the Tide in the fourth round of their recurring series, these true freshmen will be a huge reason why.

The first Cotton Bowl TD between Lawrence and Ross came when they decided to pick on the replacement for injured ND cornerback Julian Love.

Donte Vaughn never really had position on Ross, and couldn’t make up for the ground he lost, giving up the game’s first touchdown:

That one was good from 52 yards.

Their second connection looked even easier, as Lawrence just dropped one right to a wide-open Ross who blazed past Alohi Gilman for 42 yards.

Gilman had just returned to the game after what was believed to be some kind of stinger in his shoulder/neck area:

Despite any lingering pain Gilman could have been experiencing in that moment, Clemson gets credit for running the play crisply, and Lawrence dropped in a dime.

Both of those touchdowns were uncharacteristic for Notre Dame’s defense. Lawrence and Ross had to beat an elite unit.

They hadn’t given up too many scores like those this season:

That’s not great! They hadn’t given up too many scores like those this season. Big-play prevention was the thing that figured to give Notre Dame a shot:

The defense is solid all around, but its best asset is preventing big plays.

The Irish do a solid job keeping offenses off schedule. They’re 17th in Marginal Efficiency allowed, a measure of how often opponents’ plays are successful.

But they’re No. 3 in Marginal Explosiveness, a measure of how successful those plays are. Even when teams get the bare minimum yardage to keep themselves from falling behind (which they usually don’t), the Irish are great at preventing more.

This shows up in more conventional stats, too. The Irish have given up 35 plays of 20-plus yards (eighth fewest nationally), 12 of 30-plus (fourth), five of 40-plus (tied for fourth), two of 50-plus (tied for eighth), and zero of 60-plus, which only 10 teams can say. They’ve played a lot of drab offenses, but it’s still impressive to limit them so consistently.

Lawrence and Ross might be early to the big stage, but they’re good enough for it already. Both were big- time recruits and have tons of talent.

Lawrence officially replaced Kelly Bryant after four games, when he took the starting job and Bryant announced he would transfer. It wasn’t terribly surprising, because Lawrence was the top overall player in the class of 2018, according to the 247Sports Composite.

Zooming out, he’s the second-highest rated QB recruit ever, after Vince Young. If he beats Bama, he’ll be the second true freshman QB to take his team to the title, following Jamelle Holieway at Oklahoma in 1985. Bama’s Jalen Hurts would’ve done the same in 2016, but Deshaun Watson and Clemson ruined those plans in the title game.

In his 13 games coming into the Cotton Bowl, Lawrence completed 65 percent of his passes for over 2,600 yards, 24 touchdowns, and just three interceptions. He’s allowed Clemson to take advantage of its biggest strengths on offense, and skill players like Ross have helped.

Ross, an Alabama native, surprised some with his decision to commit to Clemson. But it’s worked out well, as the four-star’s forged a great connection with Lawrence.

Now, we’ll get to see Clemson try to win with kids, just like Bama did a year ago.

A year older, those same Bama kids will be the ones in the way.