If the question is whether Notre Dame can play in the SEC … this team, right now, can. If the question is whether the Irish are still in the College Football Playoff hunt … the answer is absolutely, yes.

Beyond that, if you wanted clarity four weeks into the season, you got little Saturday night between the hedges. No. 3 Georgia beat No. 7 Notre Dame 23-17 before the biggest crowd ever at Sanford Stadium.

The result was expected, but so was Georgia running Notre Dame out of the building. That didn't happen. The Dawgs, a 16-point favorite, certainly didn't run up the score. They absolutely had to earn everything they got in a defensive slugfest.

The lingering feeling from a tasty, early-season nonconference showdown: I'd love to see this game again on a neutral field. (Meaning, in a CFP semifinal.)

Admit it, it could happen. If we've learned anything in the first five years of the CFP, it's that schedule strength matters. Notre Dame played a top-five team to its knees on the road. That will be remembered when the time comes by the CFP Selection Committee.

Saturday night's result doesn't guarantee Georgia is on some rocket ride to a national championship. It also doesn't eliminate Notre Dame, either.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart was right earlier this week when he said the loser wasn't necessarily out of it. Notre Dame's schedule is strong enough that, if the right planets align, Saturday's result will come to be known as a "good loss."

The Irish matched up physically. D'Andre Swift had to bang for every one of his 98 yards on the ground. Maybe that was the difference.

But it was inspirational -- at least to Notre Dame -- that the Irish were driving for the potential game-winning touchdown with less than 2 minutes left.  

The truth is that the Dawgs couldn't run the Irish out of Sanford because the Irish wouldn't let them. Brian Kelly had a plan because he knew his team couldn't run -- period. At least not consistently against the Georgia defense.

Ian Book threw a career-high 47 times. Tight end Cole Kmet made his season debut, returning from a broken collarbone.  For a while, when not false starting, was the best player on the field. Kmet caught nine passes for 108 yards. His fourth-down catch put Notre Dame ahead.

This might not go over well in northeastern Georgia, but Notre Dame looked like the gutty underdog worthy of our further interest.

We can't quit you, Irish. Certainly not in a season where it looks like maybe a half-dozen teams have a sniff at a national championship. That's also hard to believe now that the Irish are 1-18 against top five teams since 2000.

But Notre Dame showed us some personality, some gumption, some guts.

Georgia was supposed to win. Saturday's result showed us the Notre Dame still has a chance.