Brian Kelly talks Trevor Lawrence being out for Clemson-Notre Dame game

Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame Fighting Irish beat Georgia Tech 31-13 on Saturday to improve to 6-0 on the season, and they have a big game ahead.

Next week, Notre Dame hosts Clemson. The big news in that game is Trevor Lawrence will not play for Clemson due to his positive COVID-19 test. Kelly was not aware of the news until being informed after his team’s win Saturday. He said Lawrence being unavailable was a “shame.”

“I wasn’t aware. That’s a shame. Obviously you want Trevor Lawrence to play in a game of this magnitude, when you have two really good teams playing,” Kelly told ESPN’s Marty Smith.

Just because Lawrence is out doesn’t mean Kelly is celebrating.

“Look, this thing goes through Clemson. So you assume you’re going to have to beat Clemson at least twice; you’re going to see them again. We got to take care of what we got to take care of, and that is we’ve got to play better.”

Clemson’s backup quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei looked good against Boston College, so it’s not as if Clemson will be an easy opponent next week. And like Kelly said, Notre Dame will have to step up their game in order to get wins against the toughest opponents anyhow. If they have desires of being a national championship team, they’re going to have to beat the best multiple times.