As LSU has been eliminated for contention for the College Football Playoff everyone is taking a victory lap celebrating LSU's demise. The team that is the loudest in their hate of Brian Kelly and LSU is Notre Dame, the school Kelly left for LSU. The Notre Dame fans are celebrating Kelly's struggles while propping up Marcus Freeman.
Any where you look online, you'll see Notre Dame sharing stats such as the ones below.
Head coach records since the start of the 2022 season...
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) November 17, 2024
Brian Kelly: 26-11
Marcus Freeman: 28-8
Notre Dame has victories over 10 ranked teams in that span. LSU has 4.
In 2024, the Fighting Irish are 9-1 and in the driver's seat for a CFP spot. The Tigers are 6-4. pic.twitter.com/vmLq5lZeiW
These stats however are deeply flawed when you look at how the seasons actually panned out and who the wins were over. We'll start with the ranked wins for each coach to show where this argument is flawed starting with Notre Dame.
We'll start with the ranked wins for each coach to show where this argument is flawed starting with Notre Dame.
In 2024, Marcus Freeman has beaten Navy, Louisville, and Texas A&M who were ranked at the time Notre dame faced them, Navy and Louisville are no longer ranked in the Top 25. In 2023, they beat Oregon State, USC, and Duke who were ranked at the time, NC State and Oregon State are the only teams they beat that finished the year ranked at 18th and 19th respectively. In 2022, their "ranked wins" came over South Carolina, Clemson, Syracuse, and BYU only South Carolina (19th) and Clemson (7th) finished the year ranked.
In 2022, Brian Kelly and LSU beat Alabama as their lone ranked win as the Tide finished 5th in the rankings which is higher than any team Freeman has beaten. In 2023, the Tigers beat Missouri who finished 8th for their lone ranked win. In 2024, Kelly beat Ole Miss and South Carolina both team will finish ranked while Ole Miss will be a Playoff contender.
Through Freeman's first two seasons he truly has five ranked wins as it matters most how a team finishes a season rather than starting a season. Brian Kelly under the same standards will finish with four ranked wins. The difference is Freeman's best wins ended the year ranked 7th, 18th, 19th, 19th, and TBD on Texas A&M while Kelly's finished 5th, 8th, and TBD for Ole Miss and South Carolina. Brian Kelly's ranked wins have come against a much higher caliber team while Freeman's have come against good teams but, not great teams.
We'll then look at who each coach has lost against to further prove the point that the argument is skewed.
In 2022, Freeman lost to Marshall who finished the year unranked and Stanford who finished the year 1-9. His other two losses in 2022 were respectable as he lost to USC and Ohio State. In 2023, Freeman again lost to Ohio State as well as Louisville who finished the year in the Top 25 and Clemson who finished 20th. The lone loss for Notre Dame in 2024 is at Home to Northern Illinois who's currently 6-4.
In 2022, Brian Kelly lost four games to Florida State (11th), Tennessee (6th), Texas A&M (Unranked), and Georgia (1st). In 2023, Kelly lost to Florida State (Finished 6th), Ole Miss (Finished 9th), and Alabama (Finished 5th). In 2024, Brian Kelly has lost to Texas A&M and Ole Miss who will both finish in the Top 25 and USC and Florida who won't finish ranked.
Freeman's 8 losses have come to 5 teams that finished ranked and three teams that finished unranked. Brian Kelly's 11 losses have come to eight teams that will finish ranked and three that will finish unranked. In the loss department, these two programs have been in the same place except Kelly's unranked losses have come to Power Four schools while Freeman has losses to Marshall and Northern Illinois.
Its simply tougher for Brian Kelly than it is for Marcus Freeman because of the landscape of College Football. Every season, the SEC is home to multiple schools who have a claim to be the Nation's best while Notre Dame doesn't have to play a loaded conference schedule.
There isn't a massive difference between the team's results
The funniest part about this debate is that Notre Dame is propping up a Coach that hasn't won anything either to such a high level. At the end of the day, both programs view themselves as elite programs that should contend for National Titles every season yet, neither coach has gotten the job done. We'll see what the final result is for Notre Dame is this season but, Kelly has the edge through two completed seasons as he's won the SEC West and had a Heisman Trophy winner.