There’s plenty of people upset that Notre Dame plays by its own rules. While the Irish aren’t in a conference, they’re playing a hyrbrid ACC schedule. And maybe ND’s toughest test of the season happened on Saturday night in Death Valley.
Notre Dame took it’s top-ten ranking and battled Clemson, but ultimately came up short in a thrilling ending. The Tigers are a team that has aspirations on making the college football playoff. When DeShaun Watson plays up to his potential, the Tigers are the best team in the conference.
But the Irish still has a terrific defense, and has plans to leave a¬†mark on the national landscape this year even after the loss. Plenty of experts have written off the Domers because of the plethora of injuries they’ve sustained. But the Irish can continue to make things interesting, like they did in the 4th quarter Saturday night.
The problem is that game should’ve been a marquee game for the conference. The ACC should’ve been on full display to a national audience. But with the Irish having one foot in and one foot out, it was just another attractive non-con matchup.
Could you imagine if that was a defacto ACC title game? Clemson vs. FSU often feels like that – and it’s why the conference schedules those two late in the season every year. But what about if ND vs. Clemson was an Atlantic vs. Coastal matchup? One that could decide a spot in the playoff? Then the experts in the¬†football prediction¬†business¬†would truly be digging through the stats, and looking at all the metrics that could decide the game.
According to reliable sources like¬†Bet4rate, we could have oddsmakers looking at the chances of ACC Titles and spots in the playoff if that were the case. Instead, it’s still an independent Irish team, that maybe one day will finally put both feet into a conference.
