CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Drew White barrel-rolled twice after a missed tackle, ending on all fours and frozen in time, head hung. He knew.
Notre Dame’s senior middle linebacker knew Clemson running back Travis Etienne had nothing but Kentucky bluegrass left on the path to the end zone. His tackle attempt came in the last line of defense. A critical fourth-and-one play turned into a 44-yard touchdown run, a 24-3 Clemson lead with 21 ticks until halftime and a swift kick in the gut.
White knew Notre Dame was heading to unexplored waters. Knew it’d take a comeback not mounted on Clemson in a while to grab a win. Maybe, just maybe for a fleeting second, he knew of the idea reverberating through Notre Dame fan circles as teammates mobbed Etienne.
The fever dream scenario was unfolding.
All the Irish had to do was avoid a boat-racing. Stay upright. Etienne’s dash, though, sent them to the ground for the rest of the night. This ACC Championship rematch between Notre Dame and Clemson was nothing like the all-timer they played six weeks prior. Notre Dame retreated from Charlotte, N.C., with a 34-10 loss played amid an amplifying soundtrack of teeth-grinding and clenched fists.
The Irish entered the day 10-0 and No. 2 in the College Football Playoff committee’s top 25, snuggly in the top four. They’ll find out Sunday around noon if they stay there. Their credentials remain strong. Their one loss is to a team they beat. They have a convincing win over another top-15 opponent, North Carolina. They played 11 games.
“I don’t know that you need to look any further than that,” head coach Brian Kelly said.
But Notre Dame gave the committee an excuse to, even if it’s one that doesn’t hold up against the supposed directive to evaluate the entire body of work and avoid recency bias.
This was not the final impression the Irish wanted to offer. It was not how to inspire confidence in the masses that a meeting with Alabama or Ohio State would be different than prior ones, even if the events of Nov. 7 still suggest this could just be one bad night and a temporary departure from script. Not how to increase “We want Bama!” chants.
A 24-point defeat where the Irish allowed 8.2 yards per play and mustered 143 yards in the final three quarters made for a claustrophobic Saturday night and Sunday morning waiting for their playoff fate.
No one wants to enter the postseason limping. Notre Dame has two weeks to restore some pep to its gait. Its defense may have been shredded and its offense shuttered, but it doesn’t appear to be out of the resolve that fueled its run and is its most admirable trait.
“This is a strong football team, strong-willed. It’s an outstanding football team,” Kelly said. “They’ll bounce back. They’re disappointed. They have to play more consistent. I’m quite confident they will.”
Everything about Saturday was a wayward journey from a clear identity. Notre Dame spent the regular season gobbling up opposing running backs, pushing around defensive fronts, living in backfields and staying ahead of the chains with an efficient, mistake-free offense. The Irish spent Saturday night running in mud, stuck in obvious passing downs and needing a butterfly net to stop Etienne and quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
On 24 non-sack rushes, Notre Dame gained 83 yards. It surrendered six sacks, a product of shaky protection, stout coverage and Clemson’s ability to snuff out fifth-year senior quarterback Ian Book’s deft improvisation skills. The defense, meanwhile, allowed 9.0 yards per rush (also adjusted for sacks) and produced a season-low 15.1 percent havoc rate.
“When you have a game like this all you want to do is get back out there,” Book said. “You get 24 hours to let it suck, because it does. It should hurt. Remember this feeling is what we’ve been talking about already.
“You’ve got 24 hours to let it hurt, and then it’s on you and this team to forget about it and work together towards a common goal, and that's to win another football game.”
Added linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah: “We’ll go back and focus on what we’ve been focusing on, and that’s us.”
Notre Dame will take next two weeks to try and find its way back. To slide back into the familiar M.O. that created the overflowing assurance a playoff spot was calling no matter what happened at Bank of America Stadium. Kelly pushed back on the characterization of the coming days as a process of “picking up the pieces.” In his mind, the season is not shattered. Maybe it just needs some glue.
Notre Dame can rebound and refuel internally. That’s all it cares about. All it should care about.
But outside its bubble, it can’t shake fans’ newfound angst, which looks something like this: Do you trust what you saw for 10 regular-season games? Or does this latest one leave too strong an odor to be hopeful for another meeting with a heavyweight? Notre Dame heads to the postseason having cracked open the door for fans to ask that of themselves.
Like playoff uncertainty, it’s a place the Irish didn’t want to be.
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