Clemson got some good news before ever taking the field for its game at Notre Dame.

Syracuse’s loss at Pittsburgh clinched the Atlantic Division title and ensured the Tigers a trip to the ACC Championship game on Dec. 3.

That was the last bit of good news Dabo Swinney’s team would get on Saturday.

A blocked punt on its first possession of the night gave the Irish an early touchdown and Clemson never seriously threatened on the way to a 35-14 thrashing that ended to its realistic Playoff aspirations.

All the debate. All the indignation.

It’s all a moot point now.

No matter where the committee placed the Tigers in the initial rankings that were released last week, their legitimacy as a top-4 team was always going to be decided on the field, not in a conference room.

And it was Saturday night. On the most hallowed field in college football. The end came quickly and emphatically under the shadow of the Golden Dome and Touchdown Jesus.

Clemson wasn’t just out of its league in terms of conference affiliation. It was clearly outclassed by an opponent that has won 27 consecutive regular-season games against ACC competition.

“They just physically kicked our butt. Period, the end,” Swinney said after watching his team get carved up for 263 yards on the ground while mustering only 281 yards total – 140 of which came on its final 2 possessions, long after the issue had been decided.

“They absolutely dominated us in every aspect of football and it starts with coaching, tackling, blocking, you name it. It is what it is.”

The Tigers’ defense did what it could to hold its own by limiting the Irish to only 1 offensive touchdown through the first 2 1/2 quarters. But Notre Dame was simply more physical in dominating the point of attack on both sides of the ball.

Just as it did in earlier wins against North Carolina and Syracuse this season.

Clemson’s performance also had a familiar feel.

But not in a good way.

The offensive struggles the Tigers experienced in their most recent game, 2 weeks ago at Syracuse, carried over into Saturday’s game. They survived against the Orange only after Swinney pulled quarterback DJ Uiagalelei in favor of freshman sensation Cade Klubnik.

Down 14-0 and going nowhere fast, the Clemson coach tried to catch lightning in a bottle again. Only he chose the wrong time to do it. And the gamble backfired in spectacular fashion.

Uiagalelei had just started finding a rhythm on the series before he was pulled. He completed 3 passes for 29 yards and ran for a 10-yard gain before the Tigers’ best drive of the night to that point stalled near midfield.

But when Clemson got the ball back, pinned deep in its own territory, Swinney sent Klubnik in to light a spark.

He did. Only not for his team.

Klubnik’s first pass attempt was intercepted by Notre Dame true freshman Benjamin Morrison. Three plays later, the Irish were in the end zone. Morrison then provided the coup de grace by picking off Uiagalelei on the next series and taking it 96 yards to the house.

“We just got outcoached in every facet of the game,” Swinney said, placing the blame for a loss he called one of his most disappointing at Clemson. “I didn’t get it done today. Simple as that.”

Just as simple was the outcome’s effect on the Tigers’ big-picture hopes.

While it’s not impossible for a 1-loss ACC champion to sneak into the Playoff, especially with losses to fellow top-5 teams Tennessee and Alabama, realistically it’s a longshot at best. Clemson and UNC would both have to run the table prior to their meeting in Charlotte on Dec. 3, then hope for a lot of help.

The optics of Saturday’s beatdown, however, will be tough to erase from the memory of the selectors. Even with an ACC athletic director – NC State’s Boo Corrigan – as the committee’s chairman.

The general consensus when the Tigers snuck into the top 4 ahead of Michigan, Alabama and unbeaten TCU this week is that they were an overrated fraud propped up by a weak conference.

Saturday’s loss, combined with the recent slumps of soon-to-be unranked ACC conquests Wake Forest and Syracuse, did nothing to alter that perspective.

But at least there’s still a championship to be won and Clemson will be playing for it no matter what anybody thinks or says.

It just won’t be the championship that really matters.