Brian Kelly may not have chosen to be measured against Alabama Football. Instead, the situation was thrust upon him on a January 2013 night in Miami. Kelly's Notre Dame Fighting Irish were ranked No. 1; Alabama was No. 2. John Talty wrote that "Alabama players remember looking over at the Notre Dame players and knowing the Irish had no shot at beating them." Midway through the third quarter, Alabama led 35-0. During the game, announcer Brent Musberger famously said that the contest was so one-sided, "had it been a fight, they would have stopped it." Brian Kelly has never recovered.
That Brian Kelly has only a single career win against Alabama Football does not mean he is a bad coach. He is, instead, just the opposite. Kelly has won with every program he has coached, including two DII National Championships at Grand Valley State.
Kelly was 118-35-2 at Grand Valley State. Next came his only experience with mediocrity, with a 19-16 record at Central Michigan. He was 34-6 at Cincinnati in four seasons and 113-40 in 12 seasons at Notre Dame. His three-season record at LSU is 29-11. After beating Oklahoma last season, Kelly talked up a National Championship, and came close to predicting one this season. LSU media experts and former head coach Ed Orgeron have said it is time for Kelly to put up or shut up.
As smart as Kelly is, his mouth sometimes runs off track. When discussing LSU's season opener against Clemson, Kelly said the game will be played in "Death Valley Junior, not 'the' real Death Valley." Dabo Swinney wisely did not take the bait and said Kelly's comment would not affect his players. That might not be accurate, and for sure, Kelly's words will incense an always fired-up Clemson crowd.
Kelly has a bigger problem than the Clemson crowd and Dabo's football team. That problem is the Alabama Crimson Tide. A Brian Kelly team has beaten Alabama just once in five tries. The 1-4 record is bad enough, but two of the losses, the 2012 National Championship Game and last season's game in Baton Rouge were absolute beatdowns. In those two games everyone associated with Notre Dame and LSU were embarrassed. The most embarrassed may have been Kelly.
Alabama Football Beatdown in Baton Rouge
Late in last season's Alabama 42-13 win in Baton Rouge, Kelly purportedly screamed a complaint at officials that Alabama was still blitzing, "The game's over and they’re sending f***** 8 guys." Kelly had his team working hard to get a late score so the final margin would look less bad. More than a few LSU fans, tired of booing, had already left the stadium.
In his post-game comments, Kelly said, "Take nothing away from Alabama." His sincerity is in question. He is the same coach who said of Alabama, "they act like they invented football."
No, the Alabama Crimson Tide did not invent football, but its history comes as close as any program to perfecting it. Seemingly forever stuck in Brian Kelly's craw is not being on Alabama's level.
Note: Brian Kelly coaching records provided by Sports Reference