Comparing Notre Dame’s 30-3 loss in Saturday’s Cotton Bowl to Clemson with the 42-14 Irish defeat to Alabama in the national championship game six years ago makes sense. On the biggest stage, a 12-0 Notre Dame team was uncompetitive, barely able to move the ball, unable to stop its counterpart from doing so.
As much as those similarities focus on the one-step short aftertaste of Irish head coach Brian Kelly’s two greatest seasons, they have something else in common: the dominance of the opponent. Notre Dame just does not have the ability to restock on the fly like Clemson and Alabama do.