SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Touchdown Jesus is awash in green lights, and Notre Dame's state-of-the-art green-ribbon LED lights ring the home stadium of the Fighting Irish.
On those two visuals, it is an idyllic scene for arguably the biggest-ever game in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
No. 1 Clemson at No. 4 Notre Dame.
Game of the Year, Part II, in college football after October's No. 2 Alabama smacking down No. 3 Georgia.
Except nothing is normal; not on this first Saturday in November and not in this modified, revamped and perpetually scrutinized season of college football.
I attended the game and sat in the stands, my first foray into a college football stadium in this COVID-19 pandemic season, and chronicled the evening.
https://youtu.be/7NWMu2jqYok
The football was fantastic and the atmosphere surprisingly electric for a venue, Notre Dame Stadium, that is known a bit more for its ushers' polite mannerisms than its raucous crowds.
Still, by night's end, most of a crowd of 11,011 surging onto the playing surface is quite a site to behold.
NBC sets kickoff for shortly after 7:30 and announces hours before the game it will cut away from the Irish-Tigers broadcast to showcase the acceptance from Joe Biden, declared to have surpassed the requisite 270 electoral votes from last Tuesday's election and defeated incumbent Donald Trump.
My wife, Jessica, works for Notre Dame and has secured our tickets through the staff option to purchase two seats prior to the season's start.
South Bend fixture The Linebacker Lounge is situated not too far from our home, and it's the first watering hole we pass en route to the stadium. The parking lot's full and the crowd is outside enjoying unseasonably warm temperatures; it's still in the 60s nearing kickoff after temps earlier in the day were hovering around 70.
Oh, important to note: we leave our home at 7:11 p.m.; kickoff in less than 30 minutes. We are parked in the staff/media lot by 7:16.
Nothing about this is usual, not when Notre Dame tailgates rival those anywhere in college football and folks set up their elaborate restored vintage Volkswagen buses, Land Cruisers and RVs the night before games in a typical season.
We're in line for entrance, ourselves and others all loosely adhering to social distancing guidelines. Virtually everyone already is wearing a mask, and IDs are required for entrance.
When a student presents his ID but isn't yet wearing his mask, security admonishes him.
Likewise, if a student's digital ticket doesn't light up green, he or she is not allowed entrance. Notre Dame tests more than 7,100 students for COVID-19 in the week leading into the game, and not only are positive tests eliminated from admission but students who shirk testing also have their tickets deactivated. Per Notre Dame, more than 500 students see deactivations of their tickets.
Hand sanitizer stations dot every turnstile; concession stand offerings are limited, and gallon-plus containers of additional hand sanitizer rest on counters and shelves throughout the concourse.
We overhear a beer pong discussion between students and adults alike in line behind us.
We're through the gates and nearing our seats in Section 9 by 7:25. Seats are assigned in every other row throughout the stadium; we're on row 57, so we move back an additional aisle and create extra separation against the wall. No one is crowded; space is plentiful.
At 7:33, Notre Dame wins the toss and elects to receive and moments later the 'Here Come The Irish' anthem unites the crowd.
By 7:38, the Irish faithful are erupting after Kyren Williams' 65-yard touchdown, untouched, around, through and past the Clemson defense.
Cheerleaders are pumping up the crowd, but not from the field; they're located in the premium, movie-style recliners behind the Notre Dame bench.
At 7:55, it's somewhat stunning: the Irish lead 10-0. By 8:01, it's 10-7. Clemson phenom D.J. Uiagalelei finds Cornell Powell on a 53-yard scoring strike.
Buckle up. This one's just getting good.
It also is reminding us of the current climate. Notre Dame family members sit nearby; they're all wearing masks, and the normal jubilation from parents watching their sons perform is slightly muted. JaVon McKinley's family celebrates the moments comprising arguably his best performance as an Irish wideout, but they're socially separated from other family members.
Additionally, Notre Dame security staff and ushers work the aisles spraying disinfectant and wiping down the railings in every section. This safety-first move happens throughout the game.
High-fives are few and far between. That loosens up a bit at 8:35, when Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah snatches the pitch from Clemson star Travis Etienne and races into the end zone for a touchdown. Suddenly, it's 20-10 Irish.
Soon, it's 23-10 after another Clemson turnover and Jonathan Doerer field goal.
Halftime arrives and it's 23-13.
Rookie quarterback or not, the Tigers aren't disappearing as the second half unfolds. Uiagalelei is making throw after throw, punishing Notre Dame through the air while Clemson's offense absolutely is grounded in its running game.
Still, the former No. 1 quarterback prospect Uiagalelei, playing because of a positive COVID-19 test less than two weeks ago for All-American Trevor Lawrence, is en route to 439 passing yards, two scores and zero turnovers.
On the road. In his first-ever start away from Death Valley; only his second start in college. Against an Irish defense littering the top-10 categories for its dominance.
Momentum shifts dramatically with 25 minutes left in the game. Irish signal-caller Ian Book, among the tradition-rich program's most accomplished quarterbacks, fumbles into the end zone, giving Clemson possession instead of Notre Dame a 30-16 edge.
Clark Lea's Notre Dame defense stiffens for the moment, but momentum is shifting. Cheers start becoming audible from the Clemson family section, which is nestled in the southeast end zone some 60 rows from the field.
The Tigers outscore their hosts, 10-0, in the third quarter. It's tied at 23.
Notre Dame is able to take its final lead of regulation, 26-23, three minutes into the fourth quarter on Doerer's triple from 44 yards.
Clemson scores the game's next 10 points and gets its first lead, 33-26, when record-shattering tailback Travis Etienne scores virtually untouched from the 3-yard line.
Time is running out on Notre Dame, which is behind after leading for more than 40 minutes of game clock.
Book is on the cusp of atonement, thanks to an Irish defense that is its most aggressive of the entire game. It draws a hold against the Clemson offense, which prompts Dabo Swinney to erupt on the Tigers' sideline and the Irish students to chant something along the lines of “Forget You Dabo!”. It is, up to this point, arguably the loudest moment in the stadium.
Then Etienne runs out of bounds. Not only is Notre Dame about to regain possession, it still has extra time with which to work because of Clemson's penalty and Etienne's inability to keep the clock running or force the Irish to take a timeout.
Notre Dame gets its final possession of regulation, down seven and facing a 91-yard field with less than two minutes.
Book goes to work, and Kyren Williams keeps the chains moving with a pair of first-down-producing runs for Notre Dame. Nothing, however, is bigger than Book's 53-yard connection to Avery Davis.
At least, until Book moments later hits Davis on third-and-goal from 4 yards away for a touchdown that, with Doerer's boot, forces overtime.
Overtime begins at 11:11.
Clemson scores first, in just two plays. Swinney is again on the field talking with his team and officials; Notre Dame students are taunting him with a “Put your mask on!” chant.
Nobody knows the Tigers are finished scoring and done with their 36-game regular-season winning streak.
Williams evens the tally for Notre Dame with his second score of the evening; he runs into the Irish annals with his third touchdown, the score proving decisive in the Irish's first home win against a top-ranked team since Bobby Bowden's Florida State Seminoles' visit in 1993.
By 11:44, Notre Dame students are pouring onto the field from both end zones. It's a green-out night, and the scene is akin to algae overtaking a pond. We never feel overly crowded or particularly at risk; never have any other fans particularly close to us.
It also is rather magical; historical, even. These players and students are in their late-teens to early-20s, born years after Notre Dame's previous dispatching of a No. 1 team in South Bend, long before Notre Dame Stadium's addition of luxury suites, skyboxes and the venue's other enhancements prior to the 2017 season.
These are students, mind you, who only are on campus after first testing for coronavirus prior to the semester's start; who are subject to constant surveillance testing, recovering from the school's early-fall decision to shut down in-person classes after a huge campus spike in COVID-19 cases and, overwhelmingly, at odds with University President Rev. John Jenkins.
Notre Dame's president of the past 15 years is just a few weeks removed from testing positive for COVID-19 after attending a ceremony for then-Notre Dame law professor and incoming Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett in the White House's Rose Garden. It continues to be a combustible situation.
We walk out of the stadium at 11:45 and are home by 11:51. There are Zoom press conferences to stream and words to conjure for maybe college football's best game since the Texas-USC national championship contest at the Rose Bowl in 2006.
Green lights still bathe Touchdown Jesus, Notre Dame's Word of Life mural north of the stadium. Cheers cascade throughout campus.
For the past few hours, it's been just about college football.