Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler agree, ‘no shame’ for Notre Dame despite loss to Buckeyes

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish might have fallen short against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, but they still earned the respect of the ESPN broadcast crew that was there to witness everything.

Notre Dame lost to the Buckeyes 34-23 on Monday night with Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler on the call for ESPN's main broadcast of the game.

The Fighting Irish came out strong with an 18-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that clicked 9:45 off the clock and gave Notre Dame an unexpected early lead. The rest of the night was sour for the Fighting Irish, though, giving up 31 unanswered points before a late failed comeback that got them within eight points in the fourth quarter.

Fowler has earned a reputation among Notre Dame fans for hating the Fighting Irish. He denied those claims before Monday night, and he also had high praise for Notre Dame even after the loss, so maybe he's coming around to those gold helmets.

While recapping the game with Herbstreit and Scott Van Pelt, Fowler made a bold claim that Notre Dame's first possession was the best opening drive he'd ever seen. He acknowledged how solid of a defense the drive came against and how much time it chewed.

Fowler also said there was "no shame" in Notre Dame despite concluding the season with a loss and at one point being down by 24 points. Herbstreit agreed with Fowler.

In the midst of a blowout, the Fighting Irish still never laid down and scored two unanswered touchdowns with a pair of successful two-point conversions to make it a game again. The Buckeyes ultimately fought off the comeback and added a field goal, but Notre Dame still made it a much more respectable 11-point loss compared to the earlier 24-point deficit.

The Fighting Irish surely didn't earn respect from ESPN's A crew with one performance, though. Notre Dame had an abysmal 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois early in the season and had to be perfect the rest of the way to have any chance of getting into the College Football Playoff without a conference bid.

Once in, Notre Dame rattled off three wins in a row to get to the College Football Playoff final and compete for a national title. The Fighting Irish's 27-17 win over Indiana in the first round was their first playoff win in program history after two previous trips.