Notre Dame Football: Why the Irish Must Win to Save Brian Kelly's Job Long Term

After Brian Kelly's somewhat disappointing, but nonetheless solid 8-5 debut as Notre Dame's head coach in 2010, Kelly and the Fighting Irish have gotten off to an ominous 0-2 start this season.

Narrow, agonizing losses to the likes of South Florida and Michigan leave Notre Dame in a must-win scenario against the No. 15 Michigan State Spartans this weekend.

Kelly came to Notre Dame last season after an extremely successful tenure with the Cincinnati Bearcats. While at Cincinnati, the Bearcats dominated the Big East and had three consecutive 10-win seasons from 2007 to 2009.

Things haven't been so easy at Notre Dame, as inconsistency has plagued the Irish over the first 15 games of Kelly's tenure.

While Kelly and the Irish scored big victories over the likes of Pittsburgh, Utah and USC and against Miami in the Sun Bowl, they suffered mind-numbing losses to the likes of Michigan, Navy and Tulsa as well.

Under Charlie Weis, Notre Dame gained a reputation for finding ways to lose to inferior teams, and that seems to be continuing under Kelly.

Even Weis was given five years before getting the ax, so it would be ludicrous to suggest that an Irish loss to Michigan State this weekend will lead directly to Kelly getting fired. Losing to the Spartans would rather be more like the beginning of the end for Kelly.

Weis was 19-6 in his first two seasons in South Bend, so he obviously had a bit of a grace period in the ensuing seasons. When he went 3-9 is his third season at the helm, however, his support waned greatly and he was essentially a lame duck, as reports of him possibly being fired seemed to surface after each and every loss.

The Irish started off the 2011 season ranked in the AP Top 25, but losses to two previously unranked teams leave them in a very precarious position. Should the favored Spartans do what most expect and hand Notre Dame another loss, then the Irish will have an incredibly deep 0-3 hole to climb out of.

It doesn't get much easier after Michigan State, either, as a solid Pittsburgh team is next on the schedule. Purdue and Air Force are winnable games thereafter, but the schedule gets difficult again down the stretch with USC, Stanford and a host of ACC teams on tap.

A 3-9 or 4-8 season certainly isn't out of the question for Kelly and the Irish, and that would be exceedingly disappointing for a team that had such high hopes entering the year. It wouldn't cost Kelly his job immediately, but he would be walking on eggshells in 2012, and anything less than a bowl win could cost him his job.

If the Irish win on Saturday, however, all of this would be moot. The South Florida and Michigan losses would be forgotten, to a point, and Notre Dame would have plenty of momentum heading toward October.

In a way, Kelly was afforded some good fortune when quarterback Dayne Crist had to leave the South Florida game because it allowed him to play the superior Tommy Rees. Rees has been excellent over the first two games of the season, so the Irish are certainly in better hands as they enter what may be one of the biggest games in Kelly's coaching career.

Offensively, the Irish are fine, but if the defense doesn't stiffen or at least come up with a big stop against Michigan State, the Irish will be 0-3 and Kelly's job may very well be in jeopardy.