Notre Dame football: Biggest underdog matchups in the Brian Kelly era

2018 Cotton Bowl: Clemson (-10.5) 30 vs. Notre Dame football 3

The 2018 Cotton Bowl, after an undefeated regular season in which Notre Dame’s strength of schedule and lack of a conference championship game, was frustrating. Clearly, Notre Dame had no answers on offense, and much like this recent ACC Championship Game, Ian Book spent it on his back and running from what was one of the best defensive lines ever assembled in the history of college football.

It didn’t matter that the Irish had a dominant offensive line, just like in the 2020 ACC Championship Game.

For the most part, the Notre Dame defense played good enough to win this game, or at least be in a position to win if their offense could score a couple of times. That is, except for a brief period in the second quarter when Notre Dame’s top corner, Julian Love, went down with an injury.

The Clemson offense took advantage and put up 20 points in a flurry to end the second quarter. When Love was in the game, the Irish defense only gave up 10 points.

For many, the result of this game engrained several national dialogues about Notre Dame. The first was that Brian Kelly isn’t good enough to compete with elite head coaches, and the second was that there is still a significant talent gap, proved by Notre Dame’s lack of depth, between the Irish and elite teams in college football.

The third being that Notre Dame were pretenders who sleepwalk through easy schedules and need to join a conference.

Those arguments ignore that Clemson went on to beat Alabama in the National Championship Game by more than they beat Notre Dame by in the Cotton Bowl, but it doesn’t matter. Once that perception is out, it sticks.