Written by Ryan Palencer at Bloguin
Love him or hate him for his sideline antics, Brian Kelly has done some amazing things with Notre Dame over the years. Keeping the Irish in the top four of the College Football Playoff rankings this late into the season certainly rates as one of them.
With the Irish contending for a College Football Playoff spot, Kelly has now won eight games in each of his first six seasons in South Bend. His predecessors — Bob Davie, Charlie Weis, and Tyrone Willingham — won eight games or more a combined total of five times over, spanning nearly a decade and a half.
Enduring so many crushing injuries early in the season, nobody would have had the Irish on the cusp of making the playoff. However, Kelly has prepared the backups and has truly made “next man up” a reality. There is something to be said about the depth he has built in the program, whereas his predecessors struggled to put consistent starters on the field.
Much of this speaks to the job Kelly did in recruiting entire classes of players. Notre Dame is always going to get blue-chip, top-class players. The difference Kelly has been able to make is in building the depth. Kelly has never had a recruiting class lower than 20th.
However, he is also an artist when it comes to getting his players ready to perform. During the Kelly regime, Notre Dame has gotten much better on the defensive side of the ball and simply plays with more discipline. The Irish don’t miss tackles or commit bad penalties.
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