DJ Uiagalelei looking forward to playing the historic Fighting Irish

Uiagalelei made his second career start at Notre Dame two years ago.

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Thu Nov 03 07:00:05 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON - Junior quarterback DJ Uiagalelei had a rough day against Syracuse last time out, but after a bye week, Uiagalelei and the Tigers are ready to get back at it and face the historic Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday (7:30 p.m./NBC).

Syracuse was a game to put in the past for the third-year player, but there were definitely some things to learn from it.

“I feel like I figured out what I did wrong. It’s stuff I can work on, be able to improve that and make sure that doesn’t happen again. I feel like I’ve definitely moved on from that and I’m just excited to play against Notre Dame,” he said.

“The biggest thing was decision-making. I feel like there were some decisions that I should have never made, put balls in jeopardy,” Uiagalelei added.

One good thing that came out of that game, besides sophomore running back Will Shipley having a career-high 172 rushing yards, was the play by freshman quarterback Cade Klubnik. Klubnik didn’t have much involvement in the game statistically, but he did help lead the Tigers to their 27-21 comeback victory, manning three scoring drives. Uiagalelei had only positive things to say about him.

“I thought he did a great job. I feel like coming into a situation like that is tough. I feel like for anybody, whether it’s a senior, freshman, junior, sophomore, I feel like it’s tough coming into a situation like that. I thought he did a really good job,” he said.

Regarding whether Klubnik would be ready to step in again, he said, “I think from a production standpoint and the way he approaches the game (and) his mindset, I think he’ll be able to handle the situation of playing college football. At the end of the day, the situation to come in, it’s all in the mindset. I feel like Cade (Klubnik) has done a really good job with his mindset, to not make the game bigger than it is.”

Uiagalelei said that the bye was beneficial for the team overall, getting people healthy again and studying the Irish defense more.

“You get a little more time, you have two weeks, to really look at an opponent and get to see all they’re doing. A lot of time during the bye week, you work on a lot of stuff that you need to improve on during the season,” he said. “(I’m) trying to check up on things such as school, check up with family, hang out with my girlfriend a little bit more, try to take time away from football a little bit and just relax and be able to reset a little bit.”

Looking ahead to the Notre Dame game, Uiagalelei and the team are excited to play the Fighting Irish on their home turf.

The last time Clemson faced Notre Dame was in the ACC Championship in 2020 when the Tigers beat the Irish 34-10. However, the more memorable game was the matchup earlier in the season when Clemson fell in double overtime, 47-40. This game was statistically one of Uiagalelei’s best games, when he threw for a career-high 439 yards and had a quarterback rating of 164.7, the highest of his career in his first two seasons.

“Notre Dame is a great place to play at, probably one of the richest histories of college football,” he said. “They have Touchdown Jesus there, they have a lot of rich history, a movie after Notre Dame, Rudy, and I think it’s an amazing place. I think it’s an amazing program. They’ve done an amazing job this year and years in the past. I think it’s going to be really cool to see the stadium is going to be packed.”