The thing about winning a big game is it usually leads to more big games. So that fate awaits Notre Dame coming off an undefeated regular season as a rematch with Clemson looms large in the ACC Championship Game next weekend. The national spotlight is always on the Irish but now the heat is going to be turned up and they will be judged again on the game’s biggest stage as the program seeks its second College Football Playoff bid in 3 years.

It’s been a great season, no doubt. You have to constantly remind yourself to enjoy it while it’s good because collegiate player careers are so short and you never know what tomorrow may bring. The rebuild since the beginning of 2017 has been a smashing success but right now things are different. Another level is within reach, and very possibly, is expected of the Fighting Irish. This particular team, more than any in the recent past, would throw fists at you for merely suggesting that they’re just happy to be in the ACC Title Game or just make the playoffs.

Not Backing Into Anything

It’s no longer about taking care of business against weaker teams, defeating unranked opponents, or beating ranked Navy or Northwestern teams. All of this has been repeated ad nauseum over the past 4 seasons. On Saturday night our writers were debating whether it would be better for Clemson to trip up against Virginia Tech and have the Irish face Miami in the ACC Championship instead.

That isn’t happening, nor should we want it to happen.

Facing a less talented Miami team would’ve clearly made Notre Dame’s path to the playoffs far easier–and as we discussed recently on the site–make the odds of beating 3 top teams in a row for a title a little less grueling. However, this is a Notre Dame team that has the goods and should relish the opportunity to beat Clemson with Trevor Lawrence at quarterback.

Sure, it’s hard but it’s supposed to be hard!

Avoid a Flop

This has been a special year in many ways, but maybe the biggest is that the national consensus regarding the strength at Notre Dame is as high as it’s ever been this century. It feels so good!

But, what if Notre Dame can’t beat Clemson again?

Prior to this past weekend’s game against Syracuse I was thinking to myself how nice this winning streak has been and how great it would be to send the Seniors off with another victory. Then, it hit me. What if this is the last win for Notre Dame in 2020? What if the Irish are soundly defeated in the ACC Championship and then in the Playoffs? What if they’re blow out by Clemson and snubbed for the playoffs, only to lose the Orange Bowl? Yuck.

The prior win over Clemson felt like it ushered in a new era for Notre Dame, it still makes me giddy to think about that night. Yet, a big flop or two in the coming weeks could leave a really bad taste in the mouths of Irish fans and color 2020 in a way that frankly many may not be prepared to discuss yet.

The Best Coaching

One of my favorite things to remind fans is that Notre Dame has never been a National Champion without super elite recruiting. It’s one of those strange anomalies of college football–one of the game’s most storied programs has often been cast as the gritty, try-hard underdog but in all of its several golden eras the team has been loaded with blue-chip talent.

The current 2020 squad is talented, but a healthy step below all 3 of Clemson, Ohio State, and Alabama when it comes to recruited talent.

This team has been a joy to watch.

This is one of my favorite storylines of the post-season. A strong finish to 2020 and it’s quite the feather in the cap for Brian Kelly, Clark Lea, and Tommy Rees. Anyone would admit that making the Playoff Championship Game at this point would be an absurdly terrific coaching effort. And, as unlikely as it may be, winning a title would be hands down without a doubt the best coaching season in Notre Dame history.

Building for Tomorrow

In the Syracuse game review, hooks orpik wondered, “Is this the peak of Brian Kelly?” In anticipation of personnel losses next year, and Brian Kelly entering his 12th season in South Bend, it’s fair to question whether this is as good as it’s going to get. If the team finishes strong, well that’s probably going to be tough to beat in the future!

I wonder if many years from now we’ll truly regret missing out on building a more potent roster both in this 2017-20 window and beyond. You can’t help but see that narrative forming around Notre Dame football if they don’t finish strong in 2020. Of course, you can point to the mistake of hiring Brian VanGorder and other slipups over the past decade, but a lack of recruiting breakthrough has continued to hold the Irish back.

The big question is if an ACC Championship or playoff success in 2020 can finally turn the tide for Notre Dame recruiting?

Right now, Notre Dame is good, successful, and perhaps most importantly for recruiting as cool as they’ve been as a program in maybe a quarter century. You have to hope that gets translated to better recruiting.

This is unlikely to happen for the upcoming 2021 cycle, most of whom will be signing with Notre Dame next week before the ACC Championship Game even kicks off. This ’21 class is rated 8th in the country with no 5-stars and no blue-chip prospects at running back, defensive end, inside linebacker, or safety. That current finish would be the best since 2013 (5th) but still well short of expectations for a program experiencing this much success on the field as a national blue-blood.

Quest for a Trophy

It still does feel like the Irish need to finish with a bang and bring home some hardware in a way they haven’t experienced yet under Brian Kelly. Remember when we kept harping on the quest to finish with back-to-back 10+ win seasons and what a stepping stone that would be for the program? Well, they’ve blasted through that goal for 4 straight years and left it behind as a necessary benchmark.

The problem is that throughout a current 43-6 stretch in South Bend there hasn’t been a real splashy finish in the national consciousness for the Irish. You could walk the halls of the Guglielmino practice facility right now stuffed with National Championship trophies, Heisman’s, and dozens of other awards while in comparison the best trophy for the program under Brian Kelly is….the 2018 Citrus Bowl maybe?

Is this the highlight of Kelly’s post-seasons?

I get it, the post-season is about 50% luck with matchups and you can’t always control your destiny. There’s been no random 9-3 team to face in an easy Orange Bowl and the odds right now are favoring Notre Dame being matched up with #1 Alabama in the playoffs. As I said, this won’t be a year to back into anything.

Still, even if you spot me the idea that Notre Dame won’t win the National Championship can you imagine the perception bump the team would receive should they win the ACC Championship and grab either the Rose Bowl or Sugar Bowl trophy?

Updating the Hall of Fame

Since our Notre Dame Hall of Fame Pyramid series wrapped up in July 2019 there’s been a lot to discuss. At some point, we’ll probably create a fully blown out new update in the off-season. For now, let’s talk about the players who are in the discussion to be in the HoF Pyramid over the last 2 seasons:

2019

TE Cole Kmet – Probably a firm no for me. John Carlson (161), Kyle Rudolph (165), and Anthony Fasano (183) are the last 3 tight ends in and Kmet didn’t exceed any of them in a single-season impact and definitely not in career terms. Based on his NFL Draft position you’d think Kmet would’ve been an All-American in 2019 but he wasn’t.

WR Chase Claypool – This is a tough call, but Claypool’s single-season peak and career numbers are very close to TJ Jones (173) and Rhema McKnight (158) who are the last 2 receivers in the Pyramid. I believe Claypool would deserve a spot.

DE Julian Okwara – We’re basically asking ourselves if 15.5 career sacks (and lots of pressures) over a career would make Okwara worthy. My gut says no.

DE Khalid Kareem – This one would hurt me personally to keep Kareem out. He’s among my favorite players of the Kelly era and will go down as one of the most underrated linemen in school history. Is he in the same class as Bertrand Berry (162) or Renaldo Wynn (151) who made it in? I would say yes but maybe I’m biased. Kareem’s career numbers are shockingly good though (108 tackles, 13 sacks, 26 TFL) for a strong-side defensive end.

2020

LT Liam Eichenberg – He’s already locked up induction it’s just a matter of placement in the Pyramid. We’re looking at a 3-year starter who should be a finalist for the Outland Trophy in 2020 and could be a 1st-team All-American and maybe even a consensus All-American. This could easily move him past his former teammate Mike McGlinchey at 71 overall.

LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah – Our own JOK is largely in the same boat as Eichenberg. He’ll be an All-American it’s just a matter of how many honors he’s going to pick up after this season. He’s in the running for the Bednarik and Nagurski Awards and has a shot at winning the Butkus Award, too. He may not reach Jaylon Smith territory (55) but it could in that neighborhood.

QB Ian Book – I’m not sure even the biggest Book fans would’ve predicted he’d be making our Hall of Fame but he’s zoomed up the rankings over the past 2 months. For reference, here were the quarterback rankings prior to the 2019 season:

185 Kizer
153 Powlus
132 Mirer
130 Clausen
129 Dancewicz
72 Stuhldreher
69 Montana
59 Dorais
54 Huarte
52 Theismann
49 Rice
39 Williams
36 Clements
32 Guglielmi
30 Quinn
13 Hanratty
10 Carideo
7 Bertelli
5 Hornung
2 Lujack

It all comes down to how you rate players and how you weigh different things. For Book, his career numbers are going to be memorable. He’s first, second, or third in nearly all career statistics across the board and will have the feather in his cap as the guy with the most wins for the foreseeable future.

When you look at single-season personal success and peak it gets a little murkier. I think Irish fans understand Book’s impact and success in 2020 right now, but I wonder how much that will trickle through nationally? No doubt, Book has been receiving a ton of respect but at the same time the rest of the country sees him as well below the Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Mac Jones, and Kyle Trask group.

It seems like the next couple games are going to be absolutely huge for Book’s legacy.

If Notre Dame beats Clemson and Book plays well, he may earn himself an invite to the Heisman ceremony. Even if he finishes 5th or 6th that’s a huge deal, plus he could play himself into a quality finish with the Maxwell Award, too. I do think he’s received a lot of respect in 2020 and should be, at worst, 2nd-team All-ACC for a quarterback.

But, it remains unclear if he will get any All-American nominations and the top 13 quarterbacks in the Notre Dame Hall of Fame Pyramid all ticked that box. Now, you could claim some historical bias against Book (no way would a Notre Dame quarterback in his position not receive All-American votes 40 or 50 years ago) but the game has changed so much, especially offensively, and writers are no longer tripping over themselves to nominate Irish players.

I’d personally slot Book in somewhere near Montana–someone he’s often compared to in terms of being a clutch winner without flashy stats or All-American love–but Cool Joe did win a title. With a strong finish to 2020, it’s possible Book could move all the way up toward Clements (someone whose career strongly parallels Book’s but he also won a title and was an All-American, plus Heisman finalist) into that range when it’s all said and done.