Is anyone out there in Notre Dame football fandom still missing Brian Kelly? When he departed South Bend for LSU, there were quite a few people who thought his departure might mean the Irish were about to go through a very dark time.
When his replacement, Marcus Freeman struggled out of the game, the naysayers doubled down. Then came losses to Clemson and Louisville last season and people started legitimately questioning whether there was a way to get Brian Kelly back. It’s a safe bet at this point, with Kelly’s Bayou Bengals likely eliminated from the College Football Playoff field and Notre Dame looking like shoo-ins that people are rethinking how big a loss the Tigers’ coach was.
And then there’s the fact that Freeman and Notre Dame Football have never lost so badly that the state’s governor personally called him out. Brian Kelly can’t claim that.
Notre Dame football fans have another reason to be glad Marcus Freeman is the coach
Kelly’s Tigers took on the Alabama Crimson Tide this past weekend and for the occasion, Louisiana governor Jeff Landry was so desperate to have a live tiger on the sidelines (something that school banned in 2015) that he found one from the shadiest big cat trainer around and had “Omar Bradley” paraded around the sidelines inside a tiny cage for 7 minutes.
All of that for a 42-13 loss for Kelly’s squad. You’d think Landry might have realized how silly he looked. Instead, he decided to double down, putting the football team on blast.
“Our tiger, our live tiger, unfortunately, disappointingly, was the only tiger who showed up Saturday. I’m sorry,” Landry told a crowd Monday night at an event known as “Politics with a Punch.”
The man went out and got an actual tiger to try and help Brian Kelly win a game. And the team lost by 29 points.
Notre Dame football fans should be mighty happy Marcus Freeman is the man in charge.