On Thursday Night, Notre Dame beat Georgia 23-10 to advance to the College Football Playoff Semifinal. As Notre Dame moves forward to the Semifinal against Penn State its fanbase is looking backwards. While the team and Marcus Freeman were receiving a ton of praise the fanbase was looking back at Brian Kelly.
After 12 years at Notre Dame Brian Kelly made the move signing on at LSU becoming the Head Coach after Ed Orgeron's firing. The decision sent shockwaves through College Football as the Notre Dame job was seen as one of the best in the Sport. The biggest reason Kelly left Notre Dame was because of the "glass ceiling" set due to the Academic Standards the program has while he also wanted to be at a school with the resources he felt he needed to win a National Championship.
As Marcus Freeman has the Notre Dame program two wins away from the National Championship Kelly couldn't win Notre Dame fans are quick to point out Kelly's failures and in some ways they are right while in many ways they're wrong.
The Notre Dame fans are right in the sense that Marcus Freeman is an Outstanding Coach. After impressing at Cincinnati, Kelly quickly swooped in to nab Marcus Freeman while when he took the LSU job he tried to hire Freeman again but, he turned LSU down for the job for the second time in as many years after Ed Orgeron tried to reel him in.
The thing that Marcus Freeman has the Brian Kelly doesn't have on his resume is wins in the College Football Playoff. Freeman is 2-0 thus far and even though he faced Indiana and Georgia with its backup Quarterback he won those games. Brian Kelly is 0-2 in College Football Playoff games and 0-1 in BCS National Championship Games losing to the eventual National Champions three times.
While at Notre Dame, Freeman is 32-9 while Brian Kelly is 29-11 at LSU meaning the two aren't too far apart at their new landing spots.
The situation Brian Kelly took over at LSU was far worse than the one Freeman inherited at Notre Dame. When Kelly got to Notre Dame, outgoing transfers, recruits decommitting, and the NFL Draft left him with just 39 players on scholarship which was always going to effect how soon he could win.
Freeman is now at the College Football Playoff Semifinal or the Final Four, a place Kelly made it to but, never won twice. If Freeman wins he'll reach the National Championship Game a place Brian Kelly made it to but, lost.
For there to be a sense of the slightest added pressure from Freeman's run in the Playoff it would come because Freeman won the National Championship. Thus far, Kelly hasn't met the lofty expectations everyone had when he took the job and part of that has been his own doing.
He did hire the wrong defensive Coaching Staff which let an offense headlined by Jayden Daniels, Brian Thomas Jr, and Malik Nabers go to waste. When he took the job he also didn't retain Corey Raymond and Blake Baker. Kelly has since gone out and paid for his mistakes hiring Blake Baker to be his defensive coordinator making him the highest paid Coordinator in College Football while bringing in Raymond to coach Cornerbacks once again.
At the end of the day, Brian Kelly will face media attention the further Notre Dame goes in the Playoff but, won't face added pressure at LSU because of it. The pressure Kelly faces at LSU are because of a lack of success at LSU thus far. Heading into 2025, Brian Kelly will have his best roster yet, as LSU has gone out and pushed for top transfers and if he doesn't make progress with that roster then there will be significant pressure.