Brian Kelly Takes Issue with Questions About ND's Bowl Losses After Alabama Game

No question about it, Brian Kelly is ready to be hurt again.

Following a 31-14 loss to Alabama, the Notre Dame head coach discussed the program's inability to make a breakthrough in a BCS or New Year's Six bowl.

"I'm sorry if you don't like it and if the national media doesn't like it but we're going to go back to work and we're going to put ourselves back in this position again," Kelly told reporters.

He went on to argue the Fighting Irish weren't the only ones to be overmatched by Alabama on the big stage:

It's true Alabama and Clemson are largely in a class by themselves. To isolate Notre Dame's College Football Playoff losses to those schools obscures the issue, though. The Fighting Irish can't beat anybody when they're drawn in a major bowl game.

The Rose Bowl score wasn't indicative of the gap between the two teams on the field. Alabama was up 21-7 at halftime and pretty much coasted from there. The Tide averaged 7.9 yards per play on offense to 4.7 yards for the Fighting Irish.

Kelly's belief that his players are "going to put ourselves back in this position again" probably isn't wrong. The program has won at least 10 games in five of the last six years.

But Notre Dame is basically on a rich man's version of the "treadmill of mediocrity." The team enjoys the lofty status afforded to upper-tier Power Five schools, even though it remains independent in traditional seasons. That means the CFP selection committee is always going to grant a playoff berth to the Irish if they're unbeaten or only have one loss. Two losses probably still means reaching a New Year's Six showcase.

Then Notre Dame gets exposed by a strong opponent who has plenty of time to devise a game plan. Lather, rinse, repeat.

And the consistent success the Fighting Irish enjoy makes it almost impossible to fire Kelly. As much as Friday's loss stings, it's a far cry from the low points of the Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham and Charlie Weis coaching reigns.

The fanbase is probably spoiled to some extent, but it's fair to question how this keeps happening when Ohio State, which had a similar ceiling with Jim Tressel, broke through with Urban Meyer. Similarly, Dabo Swinney turned Clemson into a juggernaut, upending what had been the narrative.

Notre Dame, on the other hand, continues to justify the skepticism that inevitably creeps up whenever it registers a big win in the regular season and looks destined to compete for a CFP Semifinal place.