This is not a vent board or any other kind of therapy. Before you hit the POST button, ask yourself if your contribution will add to the level of discussion going on.

Important notes on articles:

• Please do not copy entire articles into your post; rather, provide links to them.. We are now links-only for ALL Internet publications. If only a small portion of the article pertains to your post, Fair Use allows you to copy those one or two paragraphs, provided you cite the author's name and the publication for which he writes. Otherwise, put a link in the HTTP Link box.
• Even if you're copying a reference to an article, provide a link to the page from which the article came. We're trying to cut down on duplicate topics, and the posting process will check the link to your article to see if it's already being discussed on this board. At the very least, you'll save yourself some grief on the boards.
• If your first reaction after reading the article you're going to share is the author is uninformed / stupid / a jerk / all of the above, it's not worth sharing with anyone. Not every article needs to be discussed. The more the hair-pulling articles are discussed (e.g. ESPN Page 2), the more the authors will write hair-pulling articles.

Post being replied to

Hmmm, maybe we've misread each other. by IrishJosh24

My quibble was just about "regular season" instead of "pre-playoff," which I read to cut off would-be signature wins that occurred in conference championship games.

In general, I'd put a win over a top-10 team (even in a conference championship) in the "signature win" category. That would sweep in OSU over Wisconsin in 2019 (of their four losses, two were to OSU) and Clemson over ND in 2020. My point was just that those games shouldn't be excluded from consideration on the basis that they didn't occur in the "regular season."

My point wasn't really that Notre Dame's seasons are better or worse, although I did try to rank them (which was probably a mistake). It was just that, when you consider what the teams accomplished before the playoffs, rather than just in the regular season, I think you get a better picture.

I'm not really sure where or how what I said "devalu[ed] Notre Dame." But it's true that our "signature win" in 2020 was against a team without its best five or so players. The reality of what they were missing was on full display in the rematch. I don't think that rematch proves that we were awful or that Clemson was great. But it's not as if both games were close and could conceivably be described as "signature wins." I think it's natural to conclude that one game was a better demonstration of the two teams' standing. In any event, that win over Clemson is our best win in almost three decades, not three years. In the tighter context of the years under review, outside of that win, we didn't even beat another top-15 team in 2020 and we beat two top-15 but zero top-10 teams in 2018. In short, we have no other candidates for "signature wins."