Yes, yet the AP kept them at #1 which is good for ND as far as esthetics. To go further, it would’ve been better for Clemson to roll BC but now they’ve likely laid their seasonal one egg. They likely looked at that close win as a loss and are now more focused on ND.
Keep in mind their true freshman back up QB didn’t learn he would be starting vs BC until Thursday of last week. Now he’s got an entire week to prepare. It’s only one data point but if he can look poised and not confused by an opposing defense w/ a few days to prepare, I wouldn’t assume that ND being a better D automatically equals that they will confuse & stress this kid when he’s had twice as long to prepare. Hope Lea can keep him off balanced but it won’t be easy.
And if we are making sure, ND did almost lose to UL a few weekends ago, so we can all agree that good teams can fall into a trap game. The thing about Clemson is they do it every year, yet they win when it counts against impressive opponents including two CFP NCs. In other words, they’ve earned the benefit of the doubt. ND has not.