Brian Kelly: Notre Dame 'Without Question' 1 of 4 Best Teams After Clemson Loss

No. 2 Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly was forced to defend his team's resume Saturday after the No. 3 Clemson Tigers thrashed the Fighting Irish 34-10 in the ACC Championship Game.

"We've got two Top 15 wins," Kelly told reporters. "We've got a win over this Clemson team that was No. 1 in the country. I don't know that anybody has a resume that has those two wins, and we've played 11 games. That matters, playing 11 games. Testing your team week in and week out, I think in my mind puts us as without question as one of the top four teams in the country."

Notre Dame defeated then-No. 1 Clemson 47-40 in double overtime at Notre Dame Stadium in November as the Tigers played without star quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

It was a much more defensive tone than Kelly struck earlier this week when he raised the notion of Notre Dame opting out of the postseason if players were unable to have their families in the stands for a likely Rose Bowl game.

"I'm not sure we'll play in the playoffs if parents can't be there, to be honest with you," Kelly said. "Why would we play if you can't have the families at the game?"

After Saturday's performance, making the College Football Playoff at all is certainly in question.

The Irish crumbled after taking a 3-0 lead early in the first quarter, giving up 34 consecutive points to Clemson before a garbage-time touchdown from Chris Tyree put Notre Dame in the end zone for the first time all game.

Even with just one loss, the Irish could find themselves tumbling out of the playoff's top four.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney told reporters he believes Notre Dame should be in despite the outcome Saturday, noting the selection committee shouldn't lean toward rewarding teams who played fewer games this year.

As far as Kelly is concerned, his team has done more than enough to earn a playoff berth. Now he just has to convince the committee of the same.

"I think you look at the body of work in terms of what we've done all year," Kelly said. "We obviously lost to the No. 3-ranked team in the country tonight. Wasn't our best effort, but consistency—when you play 11 games and you have a win over the No. 1 team in the country and then you win against an outstanding North Carolina team, I don't know that you need to look any further than that."