ARLINGTON, Texas — Drue Tranquill made the long walk toward Christian Wilkins as fireworks popped off around AT&T Stadium, Clemson celebrating its 30-3 blowout of Notre Dame that felt over not long after it started. The Irish linebacker and Tigers defensive tackle exchanged gloves, tokens of respect passed back and forth, one of the few moments Saturday in the Cotton Bowl when Notre Dame and Clemson seemed to have something in common.



For Notre Dame (12-1), this was a very hard end to a season of surpassed expectations, a fall when Brian Kelly repositioned his program as national championship contender and College Football Playoff participant for the first time. This was supposed to be a reveal of how far Notre Dame had come in the past six years, crawling out of that Alabama crater as a reinvented program ready to hold its own against the elite.



And then this happened against Clemson (14-0) on a night when nothing worked, Notre Dame having neither good...