Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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and is now 16-9 in the ensuing two campaigns. That's the epitome of a bell curve. Still, Kelly has stated that the 2014 experiences with the promising youth — "stay together for the kids" — will be beneficial in the coming seasons. He has been quoted as saying that next year the Irish should be able to com- pete with "anyone." He will have to be held to such a standard. IS KELLY ON THE 2015 HOT SEAT? "We don't get a five-year plan. This is a five-minute plan. … We expect our foot- ball players to play at a high level imme- diately. We have expectations that Notre Dame plays at the highest level." — Kelly on Dec. 10, 2009 Anytime you coach at flagship schools in football such as Notre Dame, Alabama, Ohio State, Texas, Michigan, USC, Florida State, etc., and lose four or five games in a season — never mind four in a row, including 49-14 to your archrival — the natives are going to get restless. It's not unfair to say Kelly will be on the hot seat in 2015, especially if the LSU game results in a loss. Four of his five seasons probably would be described as disappointments or un- derachieving because of "bad losses." • The 8-5 debut season in 2010 in- cluded setbacks to Navy and Tulsa. • Mind-boggling defeats to South Florida (at home) and at Michigan, un- der first-year head coach Brady Hoke, led to another 8-5 finish in 2011. • Last year he had an "out" with quarterback Everett Golson in aca- demic exile, but the 9-4 result, with a loss at Pitt, still felt unfulfilling. • This year, Golson was eligible but regressed while the season contin- ued to its 7-5 ending. A home loss to Northwestern was particularly dis- heartening because while a champion- ship might still be a distant dream, the days of losing home games to Syra- cuse, UConn, Navy, Tulsa, South Flor- ida, etc., were thought to be behind the Irish with this staff. Kelly's get-out-of-jail card this time was five players who in August went into academic probation, plus a pleth- ora of injuries on defense. There can always be reasons for los- ing, but the confidence in any staff stems first from doing more than what was projected. The two factors in Kelly's favor compared to the previous three Irish coaches — or recently deposed bosses Hoke or Will Muschamp (Florida) — are he has not had a season under .500 and he had the BCS National Cham- pionship Game appearance. That pro- vides him a cushion the others did not have, especially as average as Notre Dame has been since 1994 in football. That's the difference between Kelly and Bo Pelini right now, too. If Pelini, who was 67-27 (.713) at Nebraska in the seven seasons from 2008-14 before getting axed, would have had a na- tional title game appearance in any of the past three seasons, he would still probably be with the Cornhuskers. But when you are constantly 9-4, 10-4 with no conference titles and nu- merous "bad losses," restlessness and angst are going to fester. If Kelly has another 8-4 type of season next season, how will Notre Dame react?