ATLANTA, Ga. — This is not about Notre Dame. It’s not about Brian Kelly. It is hardly about Georgia.
It is about logic, about common sense, and how they should not be discarded in favor of narrative as they so often are, including this week.
The “trends” have been recited repeatedly this week, by some of the voices with the broadest reach, some respected and others not: The Irish are 3-7 against top-10 teams in Kelly’s 10 years; Notre Dame has not beaten a top-5 opponent since topping No. 3 Michigan in 2005.
This all ignores a basic tenet of any sport, but particularly college football: It is supposed to be hard to beat top-5 teams, one of the hardest things in competition.