Same story. Different day.

Well. At least the damn leprechauns have gone back where they came from.

They tried their best to pull the Blob into their fantasies, to make it believe Notre Dame had a chance when reason and logic screamed otherwise. Everyone knew what was going to happen, and of course it happened. But you can't sell a great big neon football game by admitting that.

And so, yes, for the briefest of moments, the Blob was tempted to ignore the obvious by those charged with selling those great big neon football games. For the briefest of moments.

But along about the time Dabo Swinney took his foot off the gas in last night's Cotton Bowl, that moment was long gone. Clemson won laughing, and how could we have ever thought otherwise? The final was 30-3, a counterfeit construct itself. When Swinney began sending in the scrubeenies after it got to 30-3, the truth was out there: The Clemsons could have named their score, but chose not to.

And Notre Dame?

The Irish had a fine year.

They were a better football team than the one that got rolled by Alabama back in the first blush of 2013.

But the Clemsons and the Alabamas and their ilk remain on a different level.

That's why everyone rolling out the E-word -- "exposed" -- in the wake of 30-3 are wrong, because to say the Irish were exposed implies that they were masquerading as something most people knew they were not. They were not Clemson or Alabama, or probably Oklahoma, which at least dropped 34 on 'Bama in a similarly predictable losing effort in the other national semifinal. And neither were they Georgia, an actual top four team which missed the playoffs because of one brain-cramp Saturday in Baton Rouge.

That was made abundantly obvious last night. But it was frankly obvious before that.

This is not to begrudge the Irish their place in the playoff; they earned that by going 12-0, and looking damn good doing it much of the time. And they did it against a schedule that, in a normal year, was as representative as anyone's.

In a normal year, a schedule that included a Michigan, a Stanford, a USC, a Florida State and a Syracuse is no less daunting than a schedule that included a Furman or a Citadel, as Clemson's and Alabama's did this year. Unfortunately, this was not a normal year for a lot of the traditional powers on Notre Dame's schedule -- a circumstance for which no one can blame Notre Dame.

Fact is, they played everyone who was put in front of them and beat them. Georgia did not, Ohio State did not, Michigan did not. Central Florida did, for the second straight year, but given a choice, who was more unbeaten? A school that beat Michigans and Stanfords, or a school that beat South Floridas and Temples?

And so the Irish got in, and the Irish went down, as expected. And Oklahoma went down, as expected. And the two best teams in the country will play for the national title, which is how it's all supposed to work out.

You can argue forever whether or not Notre Dame or Oklahoma deserved to be in the playoff. You can argue that the results last night suggest the playoff should be expanded to eight teams, a much better argument. But the plain truth is, the two best teams won, and they remain head-and-shoulders above everyone else.

In or out of the playoff. Worthy or unworthy. Exposed or not exposed.