(MCT) — Only one lei ringed Manti Te’o’s neck and shoulders as quiet settled on Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, just one rainbow-colored string of small flowers and not the earlobe-high stack of festive bands he sported a week earlier.

It was a simple statement of celebration after a simple statement worth celebrating: Notre Dame was in the national title game, and this splendid night was all he came back for and more. Te’o left the field in buoyant, giant gallops, at a loss for any words that didn’t emerge as screams.