Brian Kelly’s Departure

Controversy swarms throughout South Bend, Indiana as head Coach Brian Kelly officially announced on December 1st, 2021, that he is departing from Notre Dame right as they get into the mix of the College Football Playoffs. Kelly will be heading to fill the role as head coach at LSU.

LSU had a bit of an underwhelming season this year. In large part due to the fact that their biggest star offensive players all were drafted to the NFL in the last two years. These people include quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Justin Jefferson in the 2020 NFL draft. They also just lost another star receiver, Ja’Marr Chase, who was selected in the most recent NFL draft. LSU decided it would be for the best if they parted ways with their current head coach, Ed Orgeron, on October 17th. After a string of devastating losses for the Tigers, they had decided it was time to move on. This opened the door for Kelly to seize the job less than two months later.

Notre Dame fans and college football watchers alike were all stunned when they heard Kelly had decided to leave right as Notre Dame was going to attempt to make a push into the College Football Playoffs. 

Now that the college football playoffs have begun, as many college football fans are aware, Notre Dame fell just short, and earned themself the 5th rank in the country — on the outside looking in. 

Nonetheless, Notre Dame would prepare for their Bowl game, “The Fiesta Bowl.” The Fighting Irish would go into the game being coached and led by replacement head coach, Marcus Freeman. 

The rank five Notre Dame Fighting Irish head down to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona to take on the ninth ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys. Notre Dame, devastated by the loss of their coach and failure to make the playoffs, had something to prove.

The Irish came out firing and took a 14-0 lead to start, and then took an even more impressive 28-7 by the second quarter. From that point on it was all downhill. The Cowboys mounted somewhat of a miraculous comeback and just seemed to be outplaying and outcoaching Notre Dame. Before the third quarter had even ended, Oklahoma State went on a 24-0 scoring run to take the lead for the first time in the game 31-28. The Cowboys held the Irish to just another seven points in the entire fourth quarter, while tacking on another six themselves. Oklahoma State closed out the Fiesta Bowl in a crazy, and historic comeback — one that the school will cherish for years to come. 37-35.

Notre Dame closed out the year in nothing short of disappointing for all of the Fighting Irish. They look to fix their obvious coaching problem this offseason and plan on coming right back next year in a more dominant fashion.