Julian Love’s injury might have crushed Notre Dame’s hopes

Love is central to Notre Dame’s defensive plans, and his backup played a role in three quick Clemson touchdowns.

Notre Dame cornerback Julian Love quietly exited the Irish’s Cotton Bowl semifinal against Clemson on Saturday during the first quarter. He had a head injury, Brian Kelly told ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi on his way to the locker room at halftime, as Notre Dame trailed 23-3. He returned for the first play of the second half, but a lot of damage was done by then.

Love is a vital player for Notre Dame. A former three-star recruit, he’s developed into a star for Clark Lea’s defense. He was a finalist for the Thorpe Award, which goes to the country’s top defensive back, this season. The Irish play a bend-but-don’t-break style, and Love’s reliability covering all sorts of routes is a vital part of why that works.

One of the players elevated to replace Love, Donte Vaughn, got torched for a couple of Clemson touchdowns and was connected to another.

Vaughn lost on this 52-yard Justyn Ross touchdown, Clemson’s first of the day:

He lost on this 19-yard TD Higgins touchdown at the end of the first half, though he covered it pretty well and was really just the victim of an amazing play:

Between those TDs, he took a costly defensive holding penalty. And on Clemson’s second touchdown of the game, which went over safety Alohi Gilman, the Tigers had single-coverage for Ross because linebacker Drue Tranquill had gone to the sideline to help Vaughn. Clemson’s exploited him even when it hasn’t thrown his way.

Vaughn hadn’t been especially active heading into the game:

Clemson was probably going to win anyway, but Love’s injury was devastating.