N.D., as in "No Decipherin'"

 Well, now. This will not help anyone still arguing that Marcus Freeman is NOT out of his depth.

This was Clemson 31, Notre Dame 23, and the worst part was Clemson's whiny coach, Dabo Swinney, got to gloat and say "Take THAT!" to Tyler from Spartansburg, the now-legendary radio caller who told Swinney this week (accurately) that no one was paying him the GNP of a third-world country to go 4-4.

Well, neener-neener-neener, Tyler from Spartansburg! Clemson is now 5-4, so there!

Notre Dame, meanwhile ...

Well. The Irish are now 7-3 and taking dead aim at 9-3 and a berth in some car rental/chicken sandwich bowl. And there continues to be no way of figuring them out. 

One week they hold Ohio State to 17 points or smother Caleb Williams and USC, and you think, "How is this not a top-five team?" The next week they get run over by Louisville or go down to Clemson and are never really in the game and you think, "How is this team even ranked?"

No Decipherin', that's what "N.D." stands for right now. Or so it seems.

Can't understand how you destroy a crummy Pitt team the way you're supposed to destroy a crummy Pitt team, and then lay such a cluckberry against a decidedly beige Clemson outfit. The Irish were down 24-6 before they barely knew what was happening, and the rest was just running out the clock for the Clemsons. 

Sam Hartman threw two picks including a godawful pick six, and finished with a quarterback rating of 39.6. Chris Tyree opened the door to another Clemson score by dropping a punt. And the Irish D was gashed by a backup running back (Phil Mafah) for 186 yards and two scores.

But here's the thing: Outside of Mafah, Clemson didn't even play that well itself.

 Quarterback Cade Klubnik passed for just 109 yards, completed only 50 percent of his throws and threw an interception. The Tigers turned it over another time on a fumble by Mafah. And the Clemson offense churned out a pedestrian 285 total yards.

That was plenty, though, against a Notre Dame team that simply didn't look ready to play, and of course that falls on Freeman. Two seasons into his regime, inconsistency seems to have become his brand. And that is not good news for either him or Notre Dame.

It doesn't help, either, that his predecessor left as the winningest coach in the program's decorated history. Brian Kelly is a curse word on campus now because of the cold way he fled South Bend to chase after national championships and mountains of cash, but the man won. The only good news for Freeman is Kelly didn't win right away.

His first two seasons, the Irish were 16-10. If Notre Dame wins out, including a bowl win, Freeman will be 19-7 in his first two campaigns. 

Of course, Kelly inherited the mess that was the Charlie Weis Era. Freeman inherited a program that had gone 12-1, 11-2, 10-2 and 11-2 in Kelly's last four seasons. 

Which is not to say Freeman's teams have been bad. Indeed, they've been very, very good at times. And the Ohio State game, despite the blundering finish, demonstrated this Irish team can play with anyone when it's right. 

Problem is, sometimes it's only right every other week. And that won't do in Domerville.