Brian Kelly has made it clear who he's rooting for in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game: Himself.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are playing the Ohio State Buckeyes on Monday night with a national championship on the line. Kelly coached the Fighting Irish for 12 seasons before leaving to become LSU's head coach in 2022.
Because of his history with Notre Dame, Kelly has been mentioned a lot during the Fighting Irish's run to the title game, and was even asked by CBS Sports' Brandon Marcello about his old program playing for a national championship.
“I’m happy for all those guys, I pull for them,” Kelly said. "A lot of the guys there that are on both sides of the ball, I recruited. Obviously I want to see those guys win it all, and I think they're in a great position. Totally excited for those guys."
Fresh off a Texas Bowl victory, Kelly is also trying to score some credit for a possible College Football Playoff championship even though Marcus Freeman, the man who replaced Kelly, is the one on the sidelines and leading the program.
Kelly led Notre Dame to the BCS National Championship Game in 2013 and a pair of College Football Playoff appearances in 2018 and 2020. He was 0-3 in all of those games with a possible national title on the line.
Alabama hammered the Fighting Irish 42-14 in the BCS Championship Game. However, it was later discovered that Notre Dame committed NCAA violations during that time, so had to vacate wins from 2012 and 2013.
The Fighting Irish lost to Clemson 30-3 in the semifinals of the 2018 College Football Playoff, which was only four teams then. Kelly's team was then embarrassed again by Alabama, 31-14, in the 2020 College Football Playoff semifinals.
Now with Notre Dame winning three straight playoff games and getting back into the national championship game, Kelly is desperate for at least a little bit of credit for the Fighting Irish's success three years later.