Yeah they made the playoffs and got crushed about as bad as they did against Bama. I think Oklahoma was who many thought should have made the playoffs. If you look at who they played last year on the surface it looked great until you dig a little deeper. Which is why I say name recognition. But they will be a formidable opponent for us especially this year.
But I get your point and agree 100%.
Um..,Oklahoma did make the playoffs. LOL
And ND played 12 (the most in the country) teams ranked in the Final poll the past two years (out of 26 total games) & won 8 of them (tied for most).
And ND was trailing 9-3 to Clemson with 2 minutes in the half. Then Thorpe Finalist CB Love gets hurt & Clemson scores on two long bombs against his backup to blow the game open before half. Clemson scored 20 total points in 5 minutes that Love was out. The score was 10-3 otherwise. Clemson beat Bama worse than they beat ND, & they even called the dogs off against Bama, but not ND.
Clemson staff & even players said ND was the best team they played last year.
Saying ND gets by on name recognition alone is lazy, bitter & misinformed.
And the following are scores of BCS & CFP games not involving ND that people seem to ignore, but trash ND for their losses:
46-29
37-14
55-19
41-14
37-21
21-0
59-20
37-17
38-0
31-0
24-7
24-6
42-20
44-16
The following are teams who got beat like a drum from the scores above:
Alabama
Clemson
Oklahoma (multiple)
Ohio State (multiple)
Texas
LSU
Florida State
Nebraska
Washington
VT
Oregon
Michigan State