While Notre Dame losing by 27 points in the Cotton Bowl was never expected, a victory was predicted by only the most optimistic, the utterly hopeful. Maybe that derived from the double-digit underdog status, from a healthy respect of Clemson or from knowing two steps remained, not just the one of the BCS era. Whatever the reasoning, a Playoff loss was fretted over for most of the season.
A bye week conversation in October began with wondering, “So who is the best loss we could have to knock [the Irish] out of the Playoff and avoid getting embarrassed by Bama?