Notre Dame football can’t let mistakes snowball if they want to beat Alabama
If the Notre Dame football team is to have any luck against the Alabama Crimson Tide, they cannot let the mistakes snowball like against Clemson.
Notre Dame football outplayed Clemson through the first quarter of the ACC Championship Game. That being said, you could tell that the Irish were just hanging on, as the second quarter started, as Clemson had taken the momentum from Notre Dame after a series of small mistakes that kept the Irish from jumping out ahead of the Tigers.
It started with the bad snap in the Irish offense’s opening drive of the game, which stalled them out and forced a field goal. They followed that with a missed chip shot field goal from Jonathan Doerer. Already, the Irish were leaving points on the field and giving away momentum.
That’s before Ian Book threw to Avery Davis, a little behind him by design, but Davis ran to the sideline and dropped the pass.
Mistakes were snowballing, and the Irish felt the pressure. All of a sudden, the win over Clemson had vanished from our collective minds, and it was here we go again, Notre Dame getting blown out of a big game by a more athletic team. The snowball was rolling downhill, getting larger and larger like a cartoon as it crashed down the hill.
Luckily, for Notre Dame, they still made the College Football Playoff. Unluckily for Notre Dame, they drew Alabama. You’ll remember the last time that Notre Dame played Alabama in a post-season game, the Tide got out to a 28-0 lead at halftime, and realistically the game was over by the end of the first quarter. The elite defense that carried the Irish to the BCS Championship Game was nowhere to be found.
Alabama was bigger and stronger and went through Notre Dame like butter to the tune of 42-14 for the final score.
Irish must keep mistakes from snowballing against Alabama
If the Irish have any hope of competing with or beating, Alabama they need to keep the snowball from rolling downhill. Right behind the snowball of small issues comes the avalanche of momentum. Notre Dame isn’t capable of stopping that momentum once it gets going against the elite teams in college football.
They can start slow against Duke or Syracuse, but these opponents are in a different realm from Alabama.
When the Irish take on the Tide in Dallas they need to start the game perfectly. They can’t drop passes, muff punts, blow assignments, or slice kicks, as Alabama will take advantage of every mistake Notre Dame makes.
Next. Notre Dame Football earned their spot in the College Football Playoff. dark
This makes it almost impossible to win the College Football Playoff semifinal for Notre Dame, but that’s just realistic. A perfect start is the first requirement for pulling off what would be a three-score underdog upset. There’s more to it than that, and it’s unlikely to happen, but Notre Dame may as well force Alabama to take the momentum back from them.