Notre Dame Looking to 'Finish the Deal' Against Clemson
In typical seasons, you will not find Notre Dame playing on the weekend that conference championships are decided. However, this season has been anything but typical.
The proud independent football program had to give up that status for one season to ensure themselves of actually having a season to play and the ACC was more than willing to welcome the Irish into the fold for a year.
It is a decision that is paying off in a big way too. For the first time in the history of the ACC Championship Game, two top-five teams will square off for the league title when Clemson and Notre Dame meet in Charlotte on Saturday.
Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly says his program is thankful for the chance they have been given and that his players have one goal heading into this weekend and that is to finish what they have started.
"We have not fulfilled the goal that we all got when we were afforded this very unique opportunity," Kelly said. "And we're extremely grateful for it, that the ACC has given us this opportunity. And so it's like anything else, you want to finish the deal. You know, we've gotten this close and our guys want to finish it off with a championship."
Despite its storied history, which includes 11 national titles, one thing Notre Dame has never won is a conference championship and Kelly says playing for championships is what he wants his program to be known for.
"Look, you're playing for championships," Kelly said. "Our mission is to graduate and and win championships. So this is part of what we build this for. So yeah, this is the culmination of this long season, and we're not there yet."
And after two weeks of build-up and numerous rounds of testing, the Notre Dame head coach says his team is now just ready to get out on the field and play.
"Let's go play enough, I don't know what else to say," Kelly said. "We made it through testing. We have to test six times to get to this game so, enough talk, let's go play."
