An edge to Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly was palpable during his weekly Monday press conference previewing Clemson. Hosting the No. 1-ranked team in the country can do that.
It comes from a sense — perhaps even frustration — that while Kelly and his staff have been running one of the top seven or eight programs in the country since 2017, the constant comparison of not yet measuring up to the elite triumvirate of Clemson, Alabama and Ohio State can become exasperating to anyone with a competitive pulse.
It’s like being an A-/B+ student — yet you constantly hear parents or everyone else laud your neighbor as A+ who is getting accepted by Ivy League schools. On a couple of different occasions, Kelly became somewhat irked when the mention of “reaching the next level” was asked, or where the program currently stands.
“We’ve won 22 consecutive games at home, we’ve won 12 in a row — you guys decide,” he responded.
Indeed, the home winning streak is second in the country, behind only Clemson’s 27. It also is the longest in Notre Dame’s illustrious history since 1950.
The 12 consecutive wins — begun a year ago today against Virginia Tech — are also presently the best in the country.
He didn’t even mention that in this past weekend’s 31-13 win at Georgia Tech, a Notre Dame record was set for most consecutive victories against unranked teams (30), eclipsing the previous standard of 29 from 1990-94 under Lou Holtz. That streak also is second currently to Alabama’s ungodly NCAA mark of 95.
“I know this is going to sound like heresy, but I’m less concerned about Lawrence. They’ve got a couple of defensive players that have been out: [James] Skalski, who is their defensive captain; [Jordan] Davis, one of their defensive linemen who is probably their best defensive lineman based...”
“It’s on the road against a big, physical Notre Dame team. They’re very big and they can run it and they can ball control you. They can play physical on the defensive side and have length in the secondary. Now, if Trevor is playing, I clearly favor Clemson and I think that’s pretty obvious, but Notre Dame has got a great shot. By the way, they might need this game desperately. Remember, in the ACC, they’re not doing divisions. The best two winning percentages are going to play in the ACC Championship game. That looks like it’s going to be Notre Dame and Clemson, regardless of how this game winds up this week.
“The playoff committee is not taking Notre Dame if it loses twice to Clemson. They’re just not going to do it. So, Notre Dame’s only path to the playoff is beating Clemson at least once this year, and their best chance is clearly going to be at home with Lawrence not available”
"With No. 4 Notre Dame set to host No. 1 Clemson in another one of those marquee intersectional games it rarely seems to win, I sought to find an empirical answer to a timeless question: Is Notre Dame overrated?
"Not, overrated this year. I mean, in general. Is Notre Dame inherently overrated by the pollsters? Because that’s what the majority of college football fans rush to declare pretty much anytime the Irish lose a football game. Especially when they get blown out in the postseason.
"I enlisted The Athletic’s resident AP poll historian, Matt Brown, who called up his secret Top 25 database and immediately spit out all sorts of interesting factoids. Among them was the fact that Notre Dame is actually tied with Alabama for the most all-time wins against top-10 teams with 80. Though I’m sure they were dubbed as overrated throughout most of those as well.
"But my focus was entirely about the Brian Kelly era, 2010-present, a period in which the Irish have enjoyed their most success in more than a quarter-century (including an impressive 39-6 record since 2017) but still seem to come up short in most of their biggest games.
"What we found is that, when compared with its peers — not Alabama and Clemson, but programs with comparable rankings to the Irish over time — you can make the case that yes, Notre Dame has not quite lived up to its billing."
“I don’t want to say it doesn’t matter to Clemson, but I think all eyes are on Notre Dame. When’s the last time Notre Dame won a game of this magnitude? I mean, think about it. I think that perception is real. Right now, they’re on this big of a stage, and they’ve got to take advantage of this opportunity.
“It’s not an elimination game if Notre Dame competes and wins, or if Notre Dame plays like it did in Athens last year. If they lose, and they get blown out, it’s an elimination game for me. They’re gone. That’s my opinion, and I guess I’m assuming if they get blown out that they won’t go to Charlotte beat Clemson there.
“How Notre Dame looks on this big of a stage is a big deal to their perception because if they get blown out, they’re going to get behind a lot of teams. They’re going to be fighting to get into that No. 4 spot.”
