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There was a hurdle to clear Friday in South Bend. On this stage, for too long, Notre Dame had been exposed.
The hurdle was figurative, but there was definitely a bar to get over in the minds of the Fighting Irish. If it didn’t, something was wrong. The spectacle was nice for the first ever College Football Playoff game on campus. The weather was football-perfect with snow earlier in the day. But the story was in waking the championship echoes that had been asleep for too long.
The big-game failures have piled up for a while. The last time the Irish won a major bowl — Notre Dame 24, Texas A&M 21 in the 1994 Cotton Bowl — the BCS didn’t even exist yet. It’s a streak of 10 straight losses, eight of which have come in the BCS/CFP era, dating back more than 30 years to when Lou Holtz was the coach.
The Irish did a fine job of getting a participation trophy during that stretch. It was on the losing end of one of the least competitive national titles in the 16-year history of the BCS (42-14 to Alabama in 2013). In two recent CFP games against Alabama and Clemson (2018 and 2021, respectively), the Irish were outscored by a combined 44 points.
And while Friday’s historic 27-17 win over Indiana wasn’t a bowl and the result was expected, all of it was definitely needed for the Notre Dame psyche.
While major bowls mean something totally different these days in the CFP, that’s the point. Notre Dame showed well in the opening of this new era of expanded win-or-go-home games. The season continues in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal 12 days from now against No. 2 seed Georgia.
That’s another, bigger hurdle.
But first things first. Remember when the season was over after that Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois? Not as much as you used to. Since then,…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/notre-dame-finally-clears-a-hurdle-but-the-one-that-will-change-its-narrative-of-big-game-shortcomings-awaits/
Author : Dennis Dodd
Publish date : 2024-12-21 05:54:00
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