In a season that started with visions of championship glory, Notre Dame will have to settle for the Music City Bowl. Now coach Brian Kelly's squad will have three weeks to figure out how to reverse the slide that's led them to close the year with four losses in their last five weeks.

Notre Dame will face the LSU Tigers in Nashville. The last time the Fighting Irish faced an SEC team, it didn't go so well -- they were stomped out 42-14 by Alabama in the 2013 BCS National Championship Game.

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The Irish were out-muscled and out-toughed in that game against Alabama, and Kelly is predicting a similarly "physical" match-up against LSU. This time, however, Kelly says ND will be suitably prepared.

“We're going to practice physical even if we have to put out guys that are not going to play this year,” Kelly said, via 24/7 Sports. “We're going to bang and play physical because that's the kind of football we're going to see. It can't be flag football here for the next eight practices.

“Even if we've got to line up some offensive linemen and put them in defensive linemen roles, we're going to do whatever is necessary to physically prepare our football team for a very physical football team in LSU.”

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Kelly also claimed that the Music City Bowl will provide a necessary barmoter in terms of the team's direction for the future. "This game in particular allows us to continue to not paint a false picture of who we are, but where we need to get better as we look towards 2015," he said.