Notre Dame Football: 5 overreactions from win over Boston College

3. Brian Kelly is off the hot seat

Many people will look at this game as head coach Brian Kelly’s way of preserving his job for another week. While it’s extremely unlikely Kelly will lose his job during the progression of this season, every one of his games will be greatly scrutinized by those in charge of his fate with the Irish.

Kelly’s desire to keep his head above water was clear in Notre Dame’s win as he chose to run up the score on the Eagles instead of developing Wimbsuh’s passing game. Don’t get me wrong, Kelly would’ve had a difficult choice on his hands regardless of his standing as head coach, but his decision to stick to the ground game made it clear that his main goal was to make this win look big.

Here was the situation: Notre Dame had the game in hand despite struggling on multiple offensive fronts. The coaching staff had the choice to either run up the score on a vulnerable Eagles defense or take that time to work on Wimbush in the passing game.

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It was a tough decision, as Notre Dame is currently working their way back into the top 25, and a decisive win regardless of the competition would help matters greatly. On the other hand, if there was any time to work on Wimbush’s passing game against decent competition, it was then.

Overall, Kelly has brought his team back quite nicely from a disastrous 2016 season. Unfortunately, Kelly’s Achilles heel has always been his inability to beat ranked competition, and that issue was not dismissed last week against Georgia.

This is Kelly’s year to prove that he is still worthy of leading the Fighting Irish. Until he can prove that he has what it takes to get his team over the hump against tough competition, Kelly will still be on the hot seat. Notre Dame’s pride has taken a hit over the last few decades, and their athletic head will not play games when it comes to giving the Irish its best chance to win.