Notre Dame Upsets Utah, Brian Kelly Safe, Fans Disappointed

No matter what you think of Utah, that was a stunning upset by Notre Dame. Playing with freshman quarterback Tommy Rees, without running back Armando Allen, and with what might be worst defense in college football history were it not for Michigan, the Irish still scored 28 points and held the Utes to only three. That’s pretty freaking amazing for such a depressing 4-5 outfit.

Worse, Brian Kelly’s job was in serious jeopardy heading into the game. Pretty sure it’s safe now.

Everyone knew there would be a transition year between his style and that of Charlie Weis, but no Irish fan expected this kind of a debacle. Notre Dame was truly awful in every single one of its five losses, including those to Navy and Tulsa.

I think people who hated Notre Dame definitely wanted something along these lines, but this loss definitely keeps Brian Kelly’s job safe for another year. The defense may be bad, the offense might be a major work in progress, he might be responsible for killing a student (allegedly), but there’s no way he’s out of South Bend after beating a highly-ranked team.

Which is why you might hear more than a few “Woo! We won! Aw, goddammit” from Notre Dame fans this week.

There goes Notre Dame’s shot at Chris Petersen and Gary Patterson. There’s still a very good chance the Irish are going to make some awful bowl game the die-hards are going to have to travel to (they’ll have to beat Army or USC to make one). And there’s no guarantee Notre Dame won’t be exactly this bad next year too.

I’d be pissed too. But then again, ND didn’t get destroyed 83-20 today.

* Photo courtesy of the AP