Early in the Cotton Bowl, it seemed Notre Dame had their chance. Swelling with hope, the Irish found just how fleeting the opportunity was. Their hope turned to panic, and finally despair. It seemed that the Notre Dame defense would be able to keep the game close, through being disciplined, and doing their jobs.
Obviously, that didn’t last.
There were two reasons Notre Dame lost momentum, and let the game spiral away from them. The first, was turning the ball over on downs early in the second quarter. The second was the injury to Julian Love, which sidelined him for the remainder of the first half.