The what-if game is always tempting, especially three months after the fact.
Virginia was so close to upsetting Notre Dame, leading the Irish by one as a new quarterback, redshirt freshman DeShone Kizer, replaced the injured Malik Zaire. Of course, a 39-yard touchdown pass with 12 seconds left broke the dam of season-long surrender cobras to follow, sending UVA to its second straight loss to start the season and begetting what would be a charmed season for Kizer and the Irish, who now find themselves 10-2 and in the BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl.
It might not be a stretch to say that the Cavaliers never really recovered from that near-win.