A loss to Notre Dame would mean very little for Clemson football
In terms of the big picture, all of the goals Clemson football hopes to attain during the 2020 season would still be attainable even with a loss Saturday to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Of course, no one is sitting here saying that Clemson football is going to lose to Notre Dame or making excuses ahead of the fact.
But let’s stop pretending that the only path to the ACC Championship, CFB Playoff and to a National Championship lies in winning this game.
As a matter of fact, it’s almost as if Clemson football has a built-in mulligan
None of the players or coaches are going to come out with the intention of losing this game. They’re not going to turn down their intensity because it’s not an elimination game. They’re going to play hard, give their best effort and- most likely- win.
But let’s talk about what happens if they don’t win.
If Clemson were to lose this game, there would be a few analysts who’d want to punish them greatly for it, but the vast majority of unbiased thinkers would understand a few simple things:
- The Tigers were without their star QB in Trevor Lawrence
- The Tigers were without three of their top defensive starters
- Clemson is still one of the four best teams in the nation
Even with a loss, do the Tigers drop out of the top-four? You’d be losing to an undefeated Notre Dame team on the road without your starting quarterback.
It’s very likely that Clemson still remains No. 4 in the polls after a loss and the only teams that could even come close would be the winner of the Florida-Georgia game (who’d already have one loss, as well) and potentially Texas A&M (who also has one loss).
Are you going to put them ahead of a Clemson team that lost in the matter in which it did? Likely not.
The truth of the matter is this: Clemson doesn’t want to lose this game and there tons of benefits to winning, but let’s not pretend that the season rests on coming away with a victory Saturday night in South Bend.
As long as the Tigers run the table from that moment on and then beat the Fighting Irish in the ACC Championship game with Lawrence, they’d be in the playoff basically no questions asked.