Notre Dame’s first-ever conference title game week is here.

The Irish begin it with overall clean heath and one starting spot that will be settled sometime before they play Clemson in the ACC Championship Game Saturday in Charlotte (4 p.m. ET, ABC).

Fifth-year senior right guard Tommy Kraemer is fully recovered from a late-November appendectomy and will start, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said in a Sunday evening Zoom call with reporters. Sophomore Zeke Correll or senior Josh Lugg will draw the start at center. Correll started Nov. 27 at North Carolina, but missed the Dec. 5 game against Syracuse due to an ankle injury. Lugg filled in for him, but Correll has since returned to practice.

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“This has been about getting Zeke back to where we feel like he’s 100 percent,” Kelly said. “Saturday, we all felt he was really close to being 100 percent. It then becomes a situation where has he played enough football for us, with the one game he played and got injured? Versus Josh playing two games.

“That will be a game-day decision. They’ll both continue to get reps at that position.”

Elsewhere, backup defensive tackle Jayson Ademilola is expected to return. He has not played due to a meniscus injury suffered Nov. 7 in the first game against Clemson.

“He has been getting a lot of reps, and he will be ready to play,” Kelly said. “We’re just rounding him back into game shape.”

Here is a recap of some other topics he and Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney discussed in their press conferences.

“Skalski is a quarterback for their defense. He certainly makes a difference. The other thing he has is size. You have to plan for him as somebody who physically has a different makeup as well. Jones has the athletic ability to play in their defense in a manner that allows them to do more things.

“When we start to look at one player making a difference, we might be reading a little too much into it. It’s the ability for all 11 players to play at a high level. If he’s playing well but three or four other guys aren’t playing at the same level, it negates it. But he Skalski is going to help.”

“It depends on what happens the first time around. It was a double-overtime game. Both teams believed they could have won the football game. From that perspective, both teams leave with a feeling of confidence. But Clemson’s not a team that needs confidence. They’ve been the king of the ACC for a number of years.

“Both teams got a better sense of who they are. I don’t know there’s an advantage one way or the other. This is still going to come down to the fundamentals and players making plays. There are really good players on both sides of the ball. I think it will be a closely contested football game. It will match up the way people think it will.”

“Haven’t talked about it. It’s not even something we consider at this point. We’ll talk about that next week. We have our hands full and are really focusing on this ACC Championship.

“The playoffs take care of themselves. We can’t control that. Do our players understand that if we win, we’ll be in the playoffs? Sure, they get that. But they don’t go around thinking about, ‘Oh, if we lose.’ That’s just not how they think. We’re just not wired that way. We’re wired to win the football game and expect to win.

“They don’t go around thinking, ‘Hey, we’ll lose the game, and we’re probably still in the playoffs.’ We’re thinking about winning the ACC championship. All of our time, all of our energy is about this game.”

“We’re looking for guys who have what we believe is the ability to be developed. They’re not necessarily ready made. In his instance, we feel like he’s a young man where we could develop his talent level. We want guys who love to play the game. I have to see passion. When we spent some time with him, we loved that there was a real love for the game.

“It’s their job to motivate themselves. We hear the phrase all the time, ‘Your guys aren’t motivated. What’s wrong?’ We recruit guys who have that love and that passion, the intrinsic motivation. That’s another thing he had. Those are some of the intangibles that don’t show up on the recruiting sheet that we look for. You’re never dealing with teams that play up and play down, but play in a consistent manner to win15- 16 consecutive games.”

“It was actually more difficult. We weren’t sure what DJ [Uiagalelei’s] skill set was across the board. We didn’t have enough film to evaluate him. He threw for over 400 yards against us. He was outstanding.

“We sensed maybe he wasn’t the same kind of runner, but had to respect his ability to run read-option and certainly QB runs. We really tried to defend Trevor and have some things in there that a young quarterback may not have seen before. But that didn’t work so much. He did pretty well.”

“You have to know where he is, have to have your run fits down, have to be disciplined. It’s a team defensive effort. We’re going to have a similar one. He’s an explosive football player we have such great respect for. When you put your game plan together, the first thing you have to think of is how you’re going to slow him down.

“We’re going to have to get him on the ground and make sure he doesn’t get to the second level. If he gets to the second level, he’s a problem. You have to get him before he gets started, and that means controlling the line of scrimmage.”

“It certainly was a unique year, with everybody going conference only and canceling games and things like that. I think Notre Dame certainly brings a lot to the table from a football standpoint. They’re a great program. They’re a great brand. They have an awesome tradition, and we have, a lot of respect for Notre Dame.

“The powers that be got together when Notre Dame needed games and wanted them to join the league, for a year at least. I think it has been good. It’s exciting. I think we had one of the most watched games, maybe in a long time, this season. I’ll be shocked if this one’s not even better.”

“The biggest thing that has improved this year is the confidence in their passing game, from the beginning of the year to now. The ability to throw the ball has made them even more dangerous.”

“If six wins can get you in, shouldn’t nine? If the ACC wanted to protect Clemson and Notre Dame, we wouldn’t be playing this weekend. But that’s not what we’re about. We want to crown a worthy champion.”

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