Which Notre Dame football will show up today at ND Stadium after last week’s embarrassing loss to Michigan in Ann Arbor?

No excuses in this one, Brian Kelly and his staff failed — again — to have the Irish ready for probably the most important game so far this season. With the 45-14 slap-down by the Wolverines, the Irish lost any chance of contending for the national title and are now just another college football team playing out a schedule. The outlook for a holiday bowl game remains good, but the “who will take me bowl” is now ND’s fate.

Kelly and his staff had a week off to prepare for the Wolverines. In fact, the school was on fall break, meaning the players did not have to worry about going to classes or final examines, etc., just focus on the game ahead. But Kelly, as he had done so many times in the past in his 10 years at ND, failed to have his team prepared. It was probably the worst performance by a Notre Dame football team in a couple of years.

The loss was bad enough, but it was also noted by the South Bend Tribute beat writes that it was also a giant step backwards for a program that was suppose to be gaining momentum to be one of the elite college football programs. After a 4-8 2016 season, ND moved forward with the program gaining a positive reputation and with good, solid recruiting classes. Then, last Saturday night, all that progress went down the drain. As I have written many times in the past in this space, Kelly will never win a national championship at ND.

Kelly and his staff knew what was on the line. After the loss to Georgia, the Irish and Kelly said they learned from the defeat and that their goal was to redeem themselves and make a run for the national title. That is now history.

The loss is not solely on Kelly’s shoulders, quarterback Ian Book must also take a lot of the blame. It was his worst game since taking over at QB last year. It also falls on the backs of the offense line, which failed to protect Book and failed providing any type of run offense. ND had only 47 rush yards for the night. Book completed just eight of 25 attempts for 73 yards and a score and he ran for just 13 yards on six carries.

Michigan outplayed ND in every phase of the game. Kelly’s understatement, “Clearly a very disappointing night for Notre Dame.” Really Brian, you think?

The defense must also share in this loss. Giving up 45 points and 303 rush yards and 134 passing yards to the Wolverines, who were coming off a loss to Penn State the week before.

Today the Irish take on a Virginia Tech team that is also 5-2. The Hokies have wins over Old Dominion, 31-17; Furman, 24-17; Miami, 42-35; Rhode Island, 34-17; and North Carolina, 43-41 (in six overtimes). The two losses have been to Boston College, 35-28, and Duke, 45-10.

Since Hendon Hooker took over at quarterback — after the Duke loss — the Hokies have found their offense and have been playing good football with three straight wins. Hooker has completed 35 of 61 passes for 580 yards and seven TDs after taking over from Ryan Willis. Hooker was injured in the North Carolina game but has been practicing this week and should play today.

Tech’s top rusher is Tayvion Robinson with 475 yards on 97 carries and three scores. Top receivers are Robinson with 24 catches for 267 yards and a score, and Damon Hazleton with 237 yards and five TDs on just 10 catches.

The series is tied at 1-1. ND won in 2018, 45-23; and loss in 2016, 34-31. Virginia Tech had an extra week to prepare for the Irish as last week was a bye week for them.

The game will be televised nationally by NBC-TV with a 2:40 p.m. kickoff.

IRISH NOTES ... Tony Jones Jr. had just 14 yards on eight carries but was injured and didn’t play the second half. His rib injury isn’t expected to keep him out of today’s game. The rest of the rush offense is just not worth mentioning. Chase Claypool had two catches for 42 yards as did Javon McKinley, with a score. Phil Jurkovec got into the game to relieve Book and completed three of four passes for 60 yards and a TD. Perhaps its time to give Jurkovec the start and see what he can do, it certainly can’t be worst than Book, can it? Addressing a change at QB, Kelly said, “There is no quarterback controversy. There isn’t any kind of conversation about making a change. Ian Book is our starter, will be our starter, and Phil will continue to be ready if he’s called upon.” ... Drew White led the defense with 11 tackles followed by Asmar Bilal with nine ... Book’s 17th career start not only produced the lowest pass-efficiency rating for him as a starter (69.7). It was the second-lowest in a starting performance of the Kelly Era (with a minimum of 20 attempts) and the 10th-lowest by an Irish starter since 1996. Kelly’s rating as a QB coach must be near zero ... To show how bad the offense was, or how good Michigan’s defense was, the Irish had eight three-and-outs in the game ... Starting right guard Tommy Kraemer could miss the rest of Notre Dame’s regular season due to a sprained MCL in his left knee he sustained in the Michigan game. Kelly said Kraemer could be out four to six weeks. The injury will not require surgery Kelly said ... Junior wide receiver Michael Young officially entered the transfer portal on Monday. Young did not travel with the Irish to Michigan and has played in only three games this season. By sitting out the rest of the year Young will save a year of eligibility and have two left. He is on track to graduate from ND in the spring. If Young graduates before transferring, he would be eligible to play for two years immediately at any another FBS program ... Notre Dame’s first football game on the ACC Network will be a prime-time kickoff at Duke on Nov. 9 with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. It will be the fifth night kickoff of the season for the Irish. Notre Dame won night games at Louisville and at home against USC. The Irish lost two road night games at Georgia and Michigan. The ACC Network, which is owned by ESPN, launched in August ... Notre Dame running backs have gone 1,260 carries without losing a fumble – dating back to Nov. 21, 2015. It is the longest active streak in the FBS, ahead of Northwestern’s 1,222-carry streak ...I n my preseason picks I have the Irish winning today, and they should, if the “real” ND team shows up. The one with the offensive line playing consistently and providing holes for the backs to run through and protection for the QB to find the open receivers. Virginia Tech enters the game on a three-game win streak and new confidence. The bookies say ND is a 17-point favorite. Which ND team shows up, the one that looked so bad last week against Michigan, or the one that showed a lot of promise in wins of Virginia, Bowling Green and USC?