Going into conference championship weekend with College Football Playoff invitations on the line, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said, if his team makes the playoff, it might not compete if players’ families can’t attend.
Kelly was specifically referencing the Fighting Irish’s possible appearance in the Rose Bowl, which would keep parents and other fans out of the stadium because of COVID-19 restrictions at the state and local level in Southern California. But, as ESPN reported, the playoff committee is hoping California will loosen those before the New Year’s Day game.
Because of the restrictions, Kelly said Friday that Notre Dame may essentially boycott the playoff if players’ families can’t be there in person to cheer the team on. Via USA TODAY Sports:
“I’m not sure we’ll play in the playoffs if the parents can’t be there,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly told reporters Friday before the ACC championship game, referring to COVID-19 restrictions in Los Angeles County that for now mandate no fans at sports stadiums. “Why would we play if you can’t have families at the game? If you can’t have families at bowl games, why would you go to a game where your families can’t be a part of it? What’s the sense of playing a game in an area of the country where nobody can be part of it?”
Kelly also said the playoff committee “should spend a little less time on who the top four teams are and figure out how to get parents into these games,” calling it “a sham” otherwise.
Well, those quotes from Kelly didn’t age well by the time Saturday’s ACC championship game between Notre Dame and Clemson ended.
Unlike the first time these two played earlier this season when the Fighting Irish won, the Tigers had Trevor Lawrence and other key players on the field, and they dominated with a 34-10 victory that surely solidifies Clemson’s latest playoff berth.
So how does this impact Notre Dame and its national championship hopes?
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We have no real idea what the College Football Playoff committee will do about Clemson blowing out Notre Dame in the ACC title game because plenty of its decisions make zero sense.
The committee could penalize the Fighting Irish for this loss more severely than it penalized Florida for losing to an unranked LSU team last week and drop them at least two spots and out of the top-4 teams. Or it could give Notre Dame a lot of credit for beating Clemson earlier this year, still view it as a better team than Texas A&M, Florida or disrespected Cincinnati and put Kelly’s team in anyway.
Regardless of what Notre Dame’s playoff fate may be, the combination of his quotes Friday and the disaster loss opened the door for college football Twitter to roast Kelly over Notre Dame potentially keeping itself out of the playoff anyway.
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