STANFORD, Calif. — They looked about how you’d expect after their grandest aspirations were torn from their chests and kicked into oblivion on a spine-tingling night in late November. Sheldon Day, Notre Dame’s senior anchor on the defensive line, was face down on the turf. Joe Schmidt, the senior linebacker and willful former walk-on, took a knee around the 18-yard line and stared toward the goalposts, frozen in place. His partner with the extraterrestrial talent, Jaylon Smith, stood nearby and gnashed on his mouthpiece. Jerry Tillery, a freshman nose tackle, put his head in his hands as his teammates zombie-walked off the sideline.
Heartbreak aside, Notre Dame happy with independent plan in playoff era
