Notre Dame didn't accomplish its biggest team goal of 2024, but did take huge steps in moving the program forward despite a national championship game loss.

But evolution is also a choice. The dinosaurs didn't have to walk into the tar pits. And college football programs -- even old-timers such as Ohio State and Notre Dame -- don't have to walk into the quicksand of mediocrity, led there by the blinders of obligation to keep on keeping on the same way that Knute Rockne and Woody Hayes did.

The College Football Playoff National Championship Game looked over midway through the third quarter. Notre Dame rallied to make Ohio State earn it.