Paul Finebaum Sideswipes Brian Kelly After Marcus Freeman Leads Notre Dame to Title Game

“I want to be in an environment where I have the resources to win a national championship."

That was Brian Kelly, the coach of Notre Dame football from 2010 to '21, discussing his decision to leave the Fighting Irish for the opening at LSU in 2022, just months after the landmark move.

So far, Kelly hasn't captured that elusive national title. Or coached in a College Football Playoff with LSU, something he did twice at Notre Dame (with a pair of semifinal losses). After a pair of 10-win campaigns to open his Tigers tenure, Kelly slid back to 9–4 this season, falling well short of contention for the inaugural 12-team CFP this season.

Notre Dame, meanwhile, is one win away from its first national championship win since 1988. Kelly's successor, Marcus Freeman, has had his own early-tenure struggles, losing games like this season's upset to Northern Illinois. The Fighting Irish have been absolutely dialed in during the postseason however, roundly defeated Indiana 27–17 and Georgia 23–10 before Thursday's gritty 27–24 Orange Bowl win over Penn State.

Kelly's statement has aged quite poorly, and ESPN's Paul Finebaum made sure to take a swipe at the former Notre Dame coach when discussing Notre Dame's victory on Friday morning's edition of Get Up.

“Let me also go back three years to another point in time. Notre Dame hasn’t been in a national championship game since the ’12 season. That’s when Brian Kelly—yes, Brian Kelly—lost by 28 points to Alabama in Miami,” said Finebaum. “I just couldn’t help but think that Brian Kelly, three years ago, said, ‘I’m leaving Notre Dame because I want to win a national championship and the only place I can do that is LSU.' And here is Marcus Freeman, who was his assistant briefly, and he’s now brought this team back and so much credit to him and amazing staff. I’ll let my friends here talk about the players that made the difference but it was an amazing thing to watch.”

Finebaum believes Friday night's Cotton Bowl winner—either Ohio State or Texas—will be favored to beat Notre Dame in Atlanta on Jan. 20. Even so, the fact that the Irish rebounded from one of the season's biggest upsets to win three CFP games and play for the national championship for the first time since '13 is remarkable.