Notre Dame's Win in Music City Bowl Salvages 2014 and Sets Stage for Big 2015

Tears rolling from a young quarterback's eyes. A Gatorade bath for the head coach. Players sprinting onto the field as a last-second field goal sneaks inside the uprights. 

Notre Dame knows it won the Music City Bowl, right? 

But the reaction coming from the Irish after Notre Dame's 31-28 upset of LSU is more than telling. It's proof that Brian Kelly managed to salvage a disappointing 2014 season as the Irish set the stage for 2015, when Notre Dame should be among the preseason contenders for a spot in the College Football Playoff. 

That would've been tough to envision had the Irish not scraped out an unlikely victory against LSU. Entering the game as more than a touchdown underdog to Les Miles' squad, most expected Notre Dame to get run out of Nashville.

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Whether it was the memory of JaMarcus Russell and the Tigers blowing out Charlie Weis' Irish team in the Sugar Bowl or the beating Notre Dame took the last time they played an SEC team (42-14 to Alabama in the BCS title game), few gave the Irish a shot against an LSU team that hadn't lost to anyone outside of the vaunted SEC West.

Yet Brian Kelly out-coached Miles on Tuesday. Riding the tag-team pairing of Malik Zaire and Everett Golson at quarterback while keeping his injury-depleted defense off the field, Kelly found a way to make a team that's lost five of its last six believe it could go toe-to-toe with the Tigers. 

"We talked about this being a life lesson toward handling adversity," Kelly said after the game. "We had some adversity. Everybody was down on Notre Dame. We can’t do this. we can’t do that. That’s going to happen in life.

"Believe in yourself. Believe in what you’re doing. Trust what you’re doing. If you do that, you’re going to be okay."

Notre Dame was more than okay. The offensive line won the battle in the trenches, with the Irish running for 263 yards against the Tigers. Sophomore receiver Will Fuller caught his 15th touchdown, tying Jeff Samardzija and Golden Tate for a single-season record.

And sophomore quarterback Malik Zaire gave the Irish offense a new identity, running 22 times into the teeth of the Tigers, gaining 96 hard-earned yards, while cementing a quarterback battle that should make the next nine months absolutely fascinating.

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Defensively, it's hard to call Notre Dame's performance great. But the Irish broke an ignominious streak by holding the Tigers to below 30 points, and managed to do enough (other than kick-start Leonard Fournette's 2015 Heisman campaign) by getting a few key stops and winning the turnover battle.

Many Irish fans openly wondered if a bowl game was even worth it after Notre Dame's lopsided loss to USC. But after beating the Tigers, Kelly and his coaching staff will have a newfound momentum on the recruiting trail as they try to finish the 2015 recruiting cycle strong. 

That momentum will follow into offseason workouts, where the bulk of this team returns intact as Notre Dame tries to reemerge after a disappointing second half of the season. 

"We want to be national champions,” linebacker Jaylon Smith told B/R's Mike Monaco. "When we come back from break, starting in the weight room. We need our leaders to step up and we need to continue to get better."

The first step was taken by Kelly. After failing to get as much as he should have from his football team this season, he recalibrated his approach this December. And his team responded. 

"I told them, 'I'll get you to the fourth quarter, I'll promise you that,'" Kelly said. "We'll get you there. Then you've got to go make plays."  

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Those plays came from Zaire and Tarean Folston. They came from Max Redfield and Smith. All four key pieces to a 2015 team that will miss only Ben Koyack and Cody Riggs from today's starting lineup if Ronnie Stanley doesn't head to the NFL. 

Winning solves everything. A loss to LSU would've turned the nine months between now and next season into a post mortem about as fun as a colonoscopy for Irish fans forced once again to wonder if their favorite team is at a crossroads. 

But the victory allows the Irish to start fresh in January, where two quarterbacks looks like a luxury not a problem. And a young roster matures into an experienced group that knows what it takes to beat one of the premier programs in college football. 

It's a Music City Miracle. 

* Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained firsthand.