Compelling Evidence That Brian Kelly, Not Notre Dame Players, Quit vs. USC

Notre Dame has had some seriously embarrassing losses in recent years but none may hurt the Irish more than a 31-17. They had 27 of the nation’s best recruits on hand to witness the first night game at Notre Dame in 21 years, and got beaten against their biggest rival by what felt like a lot more than 14 points.

But perhaps the biggest blow of the night came after the game.

USC linebacker Chris Galippo has a long history with the Irish—he visited South Bend with then recruit Jimmy Clausen, felt completely ignored by Charlie Weis and the staff and committed to USC three days later. He says he’s carried that moment with him throughout his career.

So Galippo was not shy about letting his feelings known about how Notre Dame played in the final seven minutes of the game.

“At the end there, when they didn’t call those timeouts, they just quit. That’s what Notre Dame football is about. They’re not anything like USC.”

The Trojans ran the ball 10 straight times with Curtis McNeal, starting at the Notre Dame 49-yard line and taking it all the way down to the two which took the last 6:43 off of the clock. Brian Kelly never called any of his three remaining timeouts.

Then Matt Barkley added his two cents on ESPN 710 in Los Angeles on Monday saying “I would agree with that. I was shocked that they didn’t use the [fourth-quarter] timeouts because we got on the field with . . . about seven minutes left, and I thought they were planning on stopping us and saving their timeouts for the end when they had the ball.”

Even head coach Lane Kiffin admitted on Sunday that he was “shocked” that Notre Dame didn’t use their timeouts. However, he has since apologized publicly and privately for the statements made by the team.

“On behalf of our football program, I apologize for Chris Galippo’s statements after the game,” Kiffin said in a statement. “I’ve addressed this with Chris, and he is remorseful. I’ve also called coach Kelly to personally apologize.’’

Galippo added this from his Twitter account.

There has been no word directly from Barkley on any type of apology as of yet.

Apology or no apology, the biggest question is whether or he and Galippo were right about Notre Dame quitting.

A bunch of members from the media asked Brian Kelly what he thought about the situation today.

“Intuitively, instinctually, I didn’t pull the trigger on a time out. It had nothing to do with ‘hey, we quit’ or ‘we give up’…I thought about it but why I didn’t call a timeout had nothing to do with ‘hey, we’re throwing in the towel.'”

Why then, didn’t he use any of his timeouts?

There is simply no logical argument as to why Notre Dame wouldn’t use their timeouts with just under seven minutes left in the game down 14 points.

Additionally, there should be no reason why USC was able to get three first downs on just running plays. Everyone in the stadium knew it was coming, why couldn’t the Irish stop it?

Whether it's just a case of a coach making a mistake or a team accepting defeat, something to this story doesn't add up.

After replaying the final 6:43, it never looked like Notre Dame collectively gave up as a team. Take a look at this small clip.

Players don’t make gestures after the play if they have conceded defeat, especially on 2nd and goal with just over a minute left in the game.

The stats also give credence to the fact that the players did not give up. The final ten runs averaged 4.9 yards per carry which is directly on par with what USC had been averaging all game.

There were offsetting personal foul calls with 5:11 left in the game but that is more indicative of a rivalry game than anything else with that much time left on the clock.

What is interesting, though, is the scheme in which Notre Dame defended obvious running plays. The Irish play a 3-4 front but had five players on the line of scrimmage every down with just two linebackers.

Considering how dominating the USC offensive line had been all game and the fact that the Irish linebackers made most of the plays on the final drive, the defensive coordinator should have switched things up at some point in the game, especially on this late drive.

Additionally, there is no excuse for why Kelly didn’t call a timeout immediately after Curtis McNeal’s 14 yard run to the 15 yard line with 4:41 on the clock.

That is the perfect amount of time for two two-minute-drills and after a big play like that, you want to keep your players focused and in the game. Keep in mind this happened only two plays after the offsetting personal fouls.

Before that, it is understandable that Kelly wanted to preserve his timeouts but knowing that the Trojans would run the ball, he has to call a timeout before it is too late.

Once USC gets a first down at the Notre Dame four with 2:33 on the clock, the game is effectively over down 14 points. But there is still no reason for Kelly to hold onto his timeouts at the end of the game.

There is nothing on the tape that shows any type of poor effort from the Irish players, at least it wasn’t any different from what they had shown all game.

But in terms of coaching, major fault should be put on the heads of Brian Kelly and defensive coordinator Bob Diaco for not recognizing what USC was doing and not giving their team the chance to win.