Could Brian Kelly Be Finished at Notre Dame?

Notre Dame lost 17-10 to Stanford in South Bend. This was a Stanford reeling from consecutive blowouts against Washington and Washington State. This was a Stanford missing its best player, running back Christian McCaffrey.

The loss drops the Irish to 2-5 on the season. They must win four of their remaining five games just to reach a bowl game, which does not look probable at this point. Things are not looking so great for Brian Kelly, who has run out of others to blame.

Kelly came under fire from many, including a former Notre Dame legend, for benching starting quarterback Deshone Kizer during the game. Kizer had thrown two interceptions. Though, he was also averaging 7.5 yards/carry on the ground.

Kelly also, somehow, got into a “heated exchange” with a Stanford strength coach following the game.

UPDATE: Brian Kelly told reporters the strength coach said “bye, bye” to him after the game.

Perhaps Notre Dame defensive lineman Jerry Tillery was using these Twitter likes for motivation?

Kelly has a distinguished track record as a head coach. He had Notre Dame in the playoff discussion as recently as last year. But, a down year has escalated into a disaster. It’s getting harder and harder to argue he’s not a major contributing factor.

Brian Kelly doesn’t need to rearrange deck chairs over Notre Dame’s bye week before Miami. He has to build a ship.