In December of 2021, Notre Dame came within a Georgia win over Alabama in the SEC Championship of likely making their third trip to the College Football Playoff. However, [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] thinks that the idea Notre Dame had a chance at the CFP when left was overblown.
Those aren’t our words, those are his.
The LSU head coach was on the Bussin’ With the Boys podcast and conversation began by discussing his adjustment to the south. He was then asked directly about leaving Notre Dame while the Irish were in the middle of a playoff chase, something he said was overblown.
“I think that’s overblown a little bit. We weren’t right in the middle of it, we kind of knew where we were going to be in terms of that but that’s neither here nor there. I think what’s most important was LSU and leadership. Scott Woodward. I’ve known Scott a long time. Familiar with him, wanting to be in the SEC.”
Kelly continued with what made the SEC so intriguing:
“You’re talking about each and every week playing against (Nick) Saban and (Kirby) Smart, and the great teams in this conference, I wanted to be measured by the best and coming down here and playing against them and I had never done that so it was one of those opportunities for me that allowed me to come to a university that had slipped from its standards…and then getting a chance to be with the right people.”
Alright, I don’t want to be the kind of person that is more worried about what Brian Kelly does at LSU than what Notre Dame does with anything. I do need to take a moment to call out some pure hogwash though.
Notre Dame was off for championship week and entered that weekend ranked sixth. Oklahoma State was rated fifth and lost to Baylor in the Big 12 championship. Literally all that needed to happen for Notre Dame to make the playoff was for Georgia to take care of business against Alabama, something they failed to do in the SEC championship but did a month later in the national championship.
Yeah, entirely “overblown”.
Congressman Kelly speaking falsehoods into existence in order to try and change the narrative.
It’s fine you wanted to go to LSU so badly that even another potential CFP trip with Notre Dame couldn’t keep you there. It’s your life, go live it. Just don’t (rescinded) pour water on my shoes and tell me it’s raining.
He did go on to mention the difficulty of leaving the players.
“The players. It’s always about the relationships that you have with players. That’s always the most difficult. You never leave on your terms. It’s always somebody else that dictates the timeline. I don’t dictate the timeline. It’s the other university that dictates the timeline. You never get to say, ‘I’m leaving when I want to leave.’ That’s what makes it difficult. Every stop along the way that I’ve left, it’s never been a great time. But if you’re making that decision to leave, the most difficult part of it is the relationships that you have with your players.”
You can check out the entire interview at the link above.
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