Facts Only: Notre Dame's Margin of Defeat Against Clemson Was Less Than Alabama's

Notre Dame shouldn't have been included in the College Football Playoff? Clemson's big win over Alabama might indicate otherwise.

Notre Dame fans are feeling vindicated after Clemson crushed Alabama in the College Football Playoff. 

While it may feel like ages ago now, Notre Dame lost to Clemson in the semifinals, which had Georgia and Ohio State players upset they weren't included in the playoff. 

The Fighting Irish earned a bit of vindication on Monday after the Crimson Tide fell to Clemson 44–16. Notre Dame lost the semifinal by 27 points, while Alabama lost the title game by 28 points. 

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Cue the Twitter-verse taking over:

Clemson beat Notre Dame by 27.

Clemson’s beating Alabama by 28.

Think it’s obvious Georgia deserved to be in the playoff over Alabama cuz it almost beat Alabama.

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) January 8, 2019

Maybe Notre Dame is a little closer to the mountain top than it appeared a week ago. And yet, there’s still a large amount of climbing that remains. What Clemson did to Alabama doesn’t fundamentally change the second part.

— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) January 8, 2019

Yeah. Notre Dame was definitely the problem last week.

— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoAP) January 8, 2019

Last week Dabo said Notre Dame was the most complete team Clemson had played this year. That might still be true.

— Andrew Hall (@DudeYouCrazy) January 8, 2019

Is Notre Dame off the hook now or nah?

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) January 8, 2019

Celebrate Clemson's national title with SI's Championship Package

Notre Dame wasn’t that bad. Clemson is that good

— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) January 8, 2019

Alabama might be able to give Notre Dame a game

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) January 8, 2019

I don’t feel so bad being a Notre Dame fan. Clemson is outstanding!!
Salute. Whole team cold

— Baron Davis (@BaronDavis) January 8, 2019

If you spent the last week saying Notre Dame didn't deserve to be in the playoffs after getting blown out by Clemson, please remember to do the same this week for Alabama.

— NotKennyRogers (@NotKennyRogers) January 8, 2019

So maybe Notre Dame was better than we thought...

— Radi Nabulsi (@RadiNabulsi) January 8, 2019

Only now is Trevor Lawrence showing his athletic ability as a runner, as Clemson salts away this astonishing demolition of Saban's team. As I said after Notre Dame, Trevor Lawrence is the Next Great Quarterback.

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) January 8, 2019

Notre Dame doesn’t suck!

— Keith Arnold (@KeithArnold) January 8, 2019

Wow. At least Notre Dame didn’t lose by 28 points. That’s a LOT of points

— Jessica Smetana (@jessica_smetana) January 8, 2019

Clemson is the first team to go 15–0 in 121 years.