Remember when everyone thought Notre Dame didn’t deserve a playoff spot? That was a crazy time. Yes, I know Clemson won the National Championship, but I think Notre Dame won something far greater, legitimacy.

As a Notre Dame fan, I’ve had to deal with a lot of people (like 3) telling me that Notre Dame didn’t deserve a spot in the playoff this year.

That’s dead wrong. If you want to argue that they weren’t one of the four best teams this year, that’s totally fair, but that doesn’t, and shouldn’t, mean that they are held back in their overall standing. If you really want to operate with that logic, all Alabama should have to do is go 6-6, be bowl eligible, and still make the playoff because…

What they deserve and what they are is mutually exclusive. Deal with it.

Despite that, losing 3-30 was a baaaaaaad look. Really bad. I don’t think I’ve seen one good big bowl appearance from Notre Dame in my time watching. Even last year’s win against LSU was as deserved as me receiving my bachelors degree. And I understand the idea that this consistent under performance impacts people’s impressions of them, but I simply don’t think that a team’s past history should impact their current position. This is football, not a presidential election. The only time someone should look behind them in football is a running back on a flea flicker, but I digress.

What made matters worse was everyone’s reactions. Non-fans screaming, “I told you so!” and fans muttering back, “Yeah… I know.” Now, I never subscribed to that. Notre Dame will always bring eyeballs. With eyeballs comes money, and the NCAA loves money.

So as long as they go undefeated, they deserve a shot. Oh, they didn’t play anyone this year? Every opponent was a D-1 team, which I can’t say is something Alabama practiced.

Multiple triggers aside, I don’t think I’m grasping at straws here when I say Clemson’s performance last night added a bit more understanding towards Notre Dame’s public standing, not that anyone who disagrees would ever admit it.

It’s pretty damn clear now how insanely good Clemson is. Trevor Lawrence is out of this world. Only thing he needs to work on is his post-game interview skills. If you missed it last night, here’s a recap.

Their skill players absolutely fly, their defense demoralizes, even their kickers hit posts better than at least one professional in particular. And Notre Dame was genuinely hanging with them for the majority of the first half. Of course they eventually got their doors blown off because they clearly could not hang with Clemson physically and  mentally. But do you know who else couldn’t?

So let’s relax for a second. No, Notre Dame was not a top 4 team in objective ability, but what happened with Clemson would have happened to anyone else. So if you’re one of the people that argued that anyone else deserved a shot over the Irish, you must be feeling pretty dumb right about now.