After a disappointing, and frankly, embarrassing loss to Clemson on Dec. 19 in the ACC Championship Game, Notre Dame faces Alabama on Friday in the College Football Playoff semifinal game with a chance to play in the national championship contest in two weeks.

But for Irish fans, many are asking, ‘Why play this one?’

In the Brian Kelly era at ND, he has won a lot of games (102), but when the REALLY big game comes up, Kelly is either out-coached or never has his team prepared for the opponent ahead.

How can a 10-win team, who beat some good talent in the ACC - including Clemson and North Carolina during the regular season - look so bad and get beat even worse is a question that is easily answered by ND fans.

The answer: Brian Kelly. He has failed many times over the years, like the last semifinal national title game against another Clemson team that was an embarrassment. Then the BCS national title game against Alabama in 2012, the Irish were never in it, and it was a big black mark on the entire ND football program, a 42-14 whipping.

After the 4-8 season of 2016, Kelly tried to reinvent his program by bringing in new coaches and stepping up in the recruiting wars. It worked, as the Irish have had some very good win-loss seasons, but again, when the ‘big game’ comes up, Kelly and company fail to deliver.

Notre Dame won’t get rid of Kelly because he wins more games that he loses, which the administration feels is good enough.

The Irish face an 11-0 Crimson Tide team with a powerful offense led by Heisman hopefuls in quarterback Mac Jones, and wide receiver DeVonta Smith. Both were recently named finalists for the award.

‘Bama played an exclusive SEC schedule during the regular season, then downed Florida, 52-46, in the SEC title game. The Crimson Tide won all of their regular season games by at least 15 points, by an average margin of 32.7. No team held them below 38 points.

The ‘Bama offense ranks No. 1 in third-down conversions; No. 2 in scoring; and No. 5 in total yards per game. Jones and Smith rank at or near the top in most of the major categories among players at their position.

The game is actually the Rose Bowl, transplanted from California to Arlington, Texas, due to COVID-19 restrictions in California. It will be televised nationally by ABC-TV with a 4:10 p.m. scheduled kickoff. The Irish leads the overall series with Alabama, 5-2. The two teams have a regular-season game in South Bend in 2028, with a return match in 2029 at Alabama.

Clemson game

The Irish let the game get away in the second quarter as the Tigers scored 17 unanswered points. That alone was not the total difference. The Irish offense was shutdown as Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence outperformed ND QB Ian Book.

Notre Dame, as a South Bend Tribune writer wrote, ‘the Irish looked overwhelmed and the Tigers looked right at home. While Clemson’s playmakers rose to the occasion, Notre Dame Shrank.’

The game stats tells the story of how bad The Irish got pushed around by the Tigers. Clemson finished with total offense of 541 yards to 263 for Notre Dame. Book was 20-of-28 for 219 yards and no TDs. Lawrence, on the other hand, was 25-of-36 for 322 yards and two TDs, and one interception.

Kyren Williams was held to 57 yards rushing on 15 carries, Book had just 10 yards on 10 carries. Michael Mayer had five catches for 51 yards and Ben Skowronek 54 on four. Javon McKinley had just three catches for 37 yards.

The Irish defense didn’t fair any better. Kyle Hamilton had 10 tackles, with Shaun Crawford getting eight.

Book was sacked six times, and for most of the game had to ‘run for his life’ as the offensive line did little to protect him. A terrible way to end the one and probably only season as a member of the ACC since the Irish will return to independent football next season.

IRISH NOTES

: Irish rover defensive back Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah won the Butkus Award. The award named Owusu-Koramoah as the top linebacker in college football for the 2020 season. The Notre Dame senior became the third Irish linebacker to win the college version of the Butkus Award following Manti Te’o (2012) and Jaylon Smith (2015). Owusu-Koramoah, who was also named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year by The Associated Press, earned the honor by covering a lot of ground for the Irish defense. The 6-foot-2, 215-pound linebacker totaled 56 tackles, 38 of which were solo tackles, 11 tackles for a loss, three forced fumbles, three pass breakups, two recovered fumbles, two quarterback hurries, 1.5 sacks and one interception in 11 games so far this season. He returned a fumble for a 23-yard touchdown in Notre Dame’s double-overtime victory over Clemson in November. The Butkus Award, which was first awarded in 1985, selects its winner with a 51-person committee, including coaches, recruiters, talent scouts and journalists using a weighted vote ranking the top three linebackers ... The Clemson loss ended the nation’s longest active winning streak held by Notre Dame at 16 games ... Book, with 701, moved ahead of Jimmy Clausen, with 695, into second place all-time among Irish quarterbacks in career completions. He’s now behind only Brady Quinn, who had 929 ... Mayer, with 35, has the most receptions for a true freshman tight end in Notre Dame history. He ranks No. 10 all-time in single-season catches among Irish tight ends ... Jonathan Doerer’s 51-yard field goal set an ACC championship game record. Virginia Tech’s Dustin Keys set the previous record with a 50-yard field goal in 2008. By the way, Doerer, a senior, has indicated he plans to return to the Irish for a fifth year in 2021 ... Notre Dame won more league honors in its one-season football appearance in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Running back Kyren Williams was named ACC Rookie of the Year and Offensive Rookie of the Year, linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year and head coach Brian Kelly was named ACC Coach of the Year. As a redshirt freshman, Williams leads all FBS freshmen in rushing yards with 1,061, rushing touchdowns with 12 and total TDs at 13. Owusu-Koramoah received 29 votes for Defensive Player of the Year. He has totaled 56 tackles, 11 tackles for a loss, three forced fumbles, three pass breakups, two recovered fumbles, two quarterback hurries, 1.5 sacks and one interception this season. Kelly, with 17 votes, beat out N.C. State’s Dave Doeren for ACC Coach of the Year by one vote ... ND is a 20-plus point underdog against Alabama. My only hope is that the Irish keep it respectable, and not get blown out like the last time they faced the Crimson Tide. This will be my last column for the season, as there is little doubt of the outcome of the ‘Bama game. Thanks to all of you who read the column during the season. Go Irish.