Cotton Bowl - CFP Semifinal: #3 Notre Dame 3 vs. #2 Clemson 30

[Omega]

Irish shutting down the run....Lawrence burns them through the air....

Trevor Lawrence does not have the arm of Haskins, the speed of Murray, or the physical stature of Tua, but he does have that intangible called on field leadership.

[Bleeding Red]

ND is like ttun. Solid position players but lack speed. It catches up to them against a speedy team.

[Valenth]

We are seeing Notre Dame getting exposed in a big way.. You knew if they had issues with Ball State earlier in the year.. You think they could handle Clemson? ..... Nope....

[Valenth]

That catch for Higgins was plain stupid!! Holy cow!!!

IMO a top 3 for play of the year... Was an insane play!

[Valenth]

Notre Dame has no answer for that defense.. Period

[OHHS old timer]

Etienne finally breaks one for Clemson...a 62 yd run to paydirt

30-3 Tigers

[dazed&confused]

This will make the hill for ND to make the playoffs in future years steeper. Unless the field expands to 8. Which is why it will probably happen.

[OHHS old timer]

Lawrence 27/39...327 yds...3 tds
Etienne 14 carries...104...with a 62 yd run

Here comes the Tigers....

[Omega]

Total domination by Clemson. Speed, physicality, depth, and coaching. We can ridicule Dabo and the ACC all we want, but Clemson has reached the level that we thought Ohio State would achieve under Urban Meyer.

[OHHS old timer]

Total domination by Clemson. Speed, physicality, depth, and coaching. We can ridicule Dabo and the ACC all we want, but Clemson has reached the level that we thought Ohio State would achieve under Urban Meyer.

Great point Omega! Clemson playing in third national championship game in four years. Senior class are now 54-4...4 ACC titles. Well done Dabo!!

[countywide35]

Wat a bad game. Kudos for Clemson. They had an absolute cupcake walk to national title and they did what they had to do. Congrats !

[baseball16]

Notre Dame is a Joke! They have not won any big bowl games since the holtz era. But they continue to get put in games and exposed over and over again. Committee needs to take that into consideration for the future. They do not deserve it in my opinion. UCF deserved more then this sorry excuse for a team. LOL

[formerfcfan]

Notre Dame is a Joke! They have not won any big bowl games since the holtz era. But they continue to get put in games and exposed over and over again. Committee needs to take that into consideration for the future. They do not deserve it in my opinion. UCF deserved more then this sorry excuse for a team. LOL

I agree that Notre Dame is and has been just horrendous on the big stage for 20+ years, but I disagree with the idea that their postseason reputation should count against them in the future. If the committee was using “past postseason performance” as a criteria in 2014, then Ohio State would’ve been snubbed in favor of TCU, ‘cause we all know how Ohio State has fared against the SEC in bowl games and who would Ohio State have played?

[formerfcfan]

I have my own qualms about ND getting in, don’t get me wrong. In fact, I have two.

1) Consider a team with the exact same body of work as Notre Dame: same record, same margins of victory, same players and coaching and is also an independent. Now instead of them being Notre Dame, imagine if this team was named something else... like “Boston College”, “Minnesota” or even “Central Florida”. Think that hypothetical team, a team where the brand is considerably tinier by comparison, is making it in?

2) The fact that Notre Dame can play by a special set of rules and allowances afforded to them - and only them - ‘n bypass the route that entails a conference championship game (by being an independent) and be given the benefit of the doubt by the committee because they’re Notre Dame when a team such as 2014 TCU was left out because there wasn’t an opportunity to play in a conference championship game, is complete horses—.

[countywide35]

Buckeyes got the short of the end stick Again.

[smurray]

I have my own qualms about ND getting in, don’t get me wrong. In fact, I have two.

1) Consider a team with the exact same body of work as Notre Dame: same record, same margins of victory, same players and coaching and is also an independent. Now instead of them being Notre Dame, imagine if this team was named something else... like “Boston College”, “Minnesota” or even “Central Florida”. Think that hypothetical team, a team where the brand is considerably tinier by comparison, is making it in?

2) The fact that Notre Dame can play by a special set of rules and allowances afforded to them - and only them - ‘n bypass the route that entails a conference championship game (by being an independent) and be given the benefit of the doubt by the committee because they’re Notre Dame when a team such as 2014 TCU was left out because there wasn’t an opportunity to play in a conference championship game, is complete horses—.

Agree, it was NOTRE DAME!!
Everybody but ESPN and this worthless committee knew they had no business in the playoffs - NO WAY A TOP 4 TEAM.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

lowest output pointwise ever by notre dame in a bowl game only scoring 3 points.

[Bleeding Red]

I said all along that ND shouldn't be there and was criticized by 90% of you on here. All I heard was "they are 12-0 and deserve it".

Hogwash. They struggled against Ball State and barely won a handful of games against mediocre teams.

Last night showed what I said all along. They were slow and had no offense. They reminded me of the one dimensional OSU team that played Clemson a few years ago with JTB at QB.

Both OSU and Georgia were better teams than ND. Both had big margin losses and OSU owns a conference championship. Should have been OSU.

Offensively OSU is as good as anyone. One can argue that OSU is the BEST offense since they are ranked #2 nationally and playing in what may be the best defensive conference division in college football. Would they have beaten Clemson? Maybe. Maybe not.

I know it would have been a very competitive game, unlike what we saw last night with ND.

[FANOSPORTS]

I also said all year long ND was over rated. They can say what they want each weekend at the end of year when the CFP rankings come out of that "secretive" room with the opinions of the 13 talking heads. SOS and how you're playing at year end should Trump everything else with the "best " teams in but brand and $$$ will always win out at the end. IMO it should have been Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Oklahoma, Ohio State, LSU, Florida, Notre Dame, UCF and Wahington State Top 10. Michigan and Washington also to high in end ratings. Yes Washington beat WSU @ year end but played in a close snow bowl game where passing was enabled. OSU should destroy Washington and Georgia the same with Texas. The best game remaining is the championship game which is the way it should be, a toss up. Call me SEC biased if you wish but they are by far the best overall conference by far, regardless of 1, 2 or 3 loss teams.

[Bleeding Red]

I also said all year long ND was over rated. They can say what they want each weekend at the end of year when the CFP rankings come out of that "secretive" room with the opinions of the 13 talking heads. SOS and how you're playing at year end should Trump everything else with the "best " teams in but brand and $$$ will always win out at the end. IMO it should have been Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Oklahoma, Ohio State, LSU, Florida, Notre Dame, UCF and Wahington State Top 10. Michigan and Washington also to high in end ratings. Yes Washington beat WSU @ year end but played in a close snow bowl game where passing was enabled. OSU should destroy Washington and Georgia the same with Texas. The best game remaining is the championship game which is the way it should be, a toss up. Call me SEC biased if you wish but they are by far the best overall conference by far, regardless of 1, 2 or 3 loss teams.

Nah. You're completely wrong. Georgia got gashed by LSU and no conference championship. I can see them at #5 but no higher.