Notre Dame Win Over Utah Utes Has Brian Kelly Dreaming of Disney World

Congratulations are in order to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, especially to the seniors who played their final home game, for their victory over the Utah Utes, 28-3 on Saturday.

It was nice to see a joyous postgame crowd celebration, the kind usually reserved for upset wins over No. 1 teams, sans toppling the goal posts. After everything that's gone wrong this year, the campus deserved to end the home season on a high note.

But no one expected Utah to be a softer cupcake than Western Michigan...or, like Tulsa should've been.

The hapless Utes appear to be the equivalent of the high-scoring, high-octane Nevada team that ND shut out last season—a team that pads it wins and stats against lower tier teams. (Kinda like last year's Cincinnati Bearcats team...)

What was frustrating about watching the celebration was the reminder that this Irish team is talented enough to beat—or at least compete down-to-the-wire with—anyone on their schedule. This team underachieved, regardless of what Coach Kelly argues in his defense publicly, or whether or not Kelly reaches his lame personal goal of six wins and a bowl invitation.

The "what if," "what went wrong," and "who's to blame" debates about this dismal season will continue into the next calendar year. But my opinion will remain unchanged: The problem with this team wasn't (and isn't) the players or their talent level.

I realize that the season's not over.  And, hopefully the Irish can finally figure out how to thwart a wishbone attack and beat a comparatively under-manned Army team next Saturday night in the Bronx. If they succeed, the Irish will take a two-game winning streak into Southern California, where the Trojans expect to be feasting on turkey leftovers on November 27th.

Despite Kelly's apparent definition of a satisfactory or successful (i.e., 6-6/any bowl game) season, Irish fans should not accept a .500 season as tolerable. The coach who has been stumbling and bumbling on the Notre Dame sidelines all season is the guy who was billed as the anti-Charlie Weis, with a resume of 19 years of college head coaching experience, impressive-looking winning seasons (albeit at smaller schools) and allegedly a great teacher and leader of young men.

Yet, from the beginning, Kelly has looked like a rookie trainee, earning his whistle at the expense of this season.

The stupefying losses suffered this year will not be erased by the victory over Utah or a win over Army, a team Notre Dame should easily beat. Nor will Kelly's own spin on his job performance justify his poor coaching judgments this season, and certainly not his $2.5 million paycheck for mediocre work.

And, because no one is getting their money's worth from this guy, Irish fans, whose paychecks are slightly less than Kelly's, might want to think twice about spending 80 bucks of their hard-earned dough on a "Notre Dame" sweatshirt during the Christmas shopping season. Come to think of it, perhaps the Notre Dame head coach's salary should be directly tied to merchandise sales. That way, the fans can express themselves in a way that an egocentric like Kelly would actually appreciate.

Finishing at 6-6 will probably make the holiday season a little brighter for some Notre Dame fans—especially if the Irish are invited to play in the Citrus Bowl just after Christmas. So, for their sake, I hope it happens.

And just think: If Kelly gets to take his team to Orlando, he can triumphantly proclaim, "I'm going to Disney World!"—and actually mean it.