Brian Kelly Deserves This

Notre Dame football is 2-4 after losing Saturday to N.C. State, 10-3. Hurricane Matthew was responsible for  extremely sloppy conditions for the two teams, but the game was played, and the Fighting Irish lost, so head coach Brian Kelly called out his center, Sam Mustipher.

“Just extremely disappointed in the offensive execution and obviously, the lack of our ability to manage—the snapping of the football was atrocious as well,” Kelly said. Indeed, in the weather, Mustipher was horrible at his job:

Mustipher also had a bad snap on Notre Dame’s final chance to tie the game:

It’s totally unsurprising to hear Kelly openly call out his player. This is a man who turns a new shade of red on the sideline each game, requiring everyone else in the program to deal with his rage. Even for a college football coach, he berates and glowers at his unpaid employees to a nearly performative degree. This is acceptable, if the team is winning. They aren’t this season, however, and Kelly is incapable of fully taking the blame. Another quote from last night’s postgame:

This would sound genuine if Kelly hadn’t taken the time to call his center’s play “atrocious.” If he’s disappointed in the offense’s performance and wondering why his center had trouble snapping, maybe he can figure out who on the team is responsible for calling 36 pass plays in a hurricane.

With defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder fired four games into this season, the list of scapegoats is dwindling. The program’s next two games are at home against Stanford and Miami. Maybe one of them can end this era at Notre Dame.