Being an ND graduate who was born and raised in Louisiana, this victory was “sweet!” The 2015 football season looks promising especially if “little” Jerry commits. Hope Coach enjoyed his bowl of “gumbo” when he visited “little” Jerry.

There’s that fight that is in the Fighting Irish!!!!! We came in like we did against FSU! This is huge for us on the recruiting trail!!!! It’ll be nice to see what recruits we get from this win. BK saved himself a lot with this win, still has a lot of work ahead of him to make sure we are an elite program again!!! School, jack, and admits ration has their part in building on this too!!!!! Good feeling going into spring practices!!! Feels good to say this with pride again……….GO IRISH!!!!!!

The team was prepared and passionate. Nice positive change. Congrats to all.

Newsflash–Kelly lost the team for a 6 month period and this was a great game and great win over a lower ranked team but make no mistake about it–Kelly did lose his team this year. And while we are at it –yes we finally ran the ball—had that type of game plan been in play when it counted earlier this year my guess is that EG would not have been a turnover machine. Even after the whole off season we still have horrific special teams play–just really bad. With that said we all should be happy with the win and the idea that Kelly can stick to a game plan. The question is–why could he not do this for 6 weeks in october and november. He is a marginal coach who coached a good game tonight.
He still managed in his post game interview to through his players under the bus when he essentially Brindza for losses earlier this year

Great win! The offense looked good, always said, you need a formidable run threat at QB in this offense who can avoid/take hits and Zaire fits the bill. His passing ability impressed me the most, shows he can prepare and come in mentally-focused. I was happy to see Golson contribute on the last drive, but he’s going to be like his back up from 2012 next year, like when he threw the 3rd down completion while getting tackled. The offense lost some momentum for most of the 2nd half, but did well against the best D it faced all day. The D was flat, the fake FG WAS a TD, but we’ll take a free-B. The D-coordinator seems to have lost his identity: no more blitzing, very hesitant players who sit on their heals and are too hesitant to make plays because they lack confidence. The Special teams didn’t come within 5 yards of Fournette. I hope the team stresses special teams next year, but the defense will have to play with a chip on its shoulder and regain an identity. Offense set the tone for this game, no TOs!!!! D hung in at the end, and the FG unit pulled it off against LSU!!!!!! Go visit SEC swamp country and recruit some 6’4″ 250 lb 4.4 40-running talent to celebrate BK 🙂

There are no words to express how happy I am tonight. I am a graduate of LSU and live here as well. I had no idea that Notre Dame would be able to win this game. I never saw it coming. I can say truthfully, I believed LSU would blow this team out in the 4th quarter. They didn’t and Notre Dame played with them the entire game. Again truthfully….they totally outplayed LSU and deserve this win. Hopefully, this will be a big step for the future of the university and team my family and I…and so many throughout this country love so much. What a wonderful day for all Notre Dame fans! Happy New Year everyone!

Canuck75, we’re all happy about the win, but 8-5 should not be the standard for ND football, and BK has shown himself to be an above average coach at best. A notch above the three previous bozos, and that’s all. There’s not enough room in cyber space to document all the evidence for this. We all appreciate the 2012 season, but if we’re honest, we know how enormously fortunate we were that year. I’m not saying he should be fired, of course, but this guy doesn’t have the chops for big-time NCAA football. The company line “first ND coach to achieve 8 wins in first 5 seasons” is a canard, now that we have 12 game schedules, and all 6-win teams make bowl games (stretching the season to 13 games). 3 of his 5 seasons he will have finished outside top 25. That’s not something to be pleased about.

Absolutely amazing and totally unexpected. I can’t wait to see Golson and Zaire next year. I know that this year was totally derailed by injury and whatever was going on with Golson, so it’s nice to see it finish on such a positive note.

I’d also like to thank Les Miles and the LSU offense for going away from the ‘hurry up’ that they ran in the first half. It killed the (depleted) Irish D during the season and it looked like it was going to do the same tonight. Thank goodness they went away from it…

Very proud of and very happy for the Irish.

No question I am happy with the win and proud of the team for beating LSU who, while having a down year, is a perennial SEC powerhouse. And I am also hopeful for what next year could bring.

My question is whether Kelly will accept the fact that he has a team that can win so long as they play a different style than the one he prefers. He accepted this in 2012 and managed to go 12-0 with a precarious two QB system. If he can do it in 2015 — with more overall talent, experience, and depth (at QB and most other key positions) — I think we have a shot at being in the playoff conversation.

Lots of questions though. Will Golson, Stanley, and Day stay? Is Kelly here for next season or will he be taking Rex Ryan’s place on the Jets sidelines? Can D figure out how to stay aggressive and effective when opponents go hurry up? How well can our new kicker perform? Etc.

In short, we will have lots to talk about on this board.

Great TEAM effort, from the coaches to the guys signaling the plays from the sidelines. And NO major injuries!!!! Let’s build on this in 2015. Great job, FIGHTING IRISH!!

I agree…great TEAM victory…good job of game plan to control ball and keep undermanned defense off field as much as possible. Off season a little easier to take now!!

Gentlemen;

My witty comments were only in specific response to the numerous guys who were predicting a 40 point blow out , or who said we shouldn’t be playing etc. Those guys are entitled to their opinions too, but it gets tiresome to read the fire kelly,hire Stoops knee jerk reactions to any adversity.

I expect and have faith that 10-2 is possible every year, so anything less is disappointing. However, I believe I am more rational than many on here. We got hosed at FSU . Our reliable kicker missed two chip shots that we have every right to expect him to make. There are the 3 games or “a few plays” as Coach said away from 10-2.
We had more injuries than I can remember, including to our best defenders (Schmidt, Day Jones)
I am disappointed in the O line. I am disappointed that Bryant is more sizzle than steak.
But I do have faith in Kelly. I am not sure why so many express outright hatred for him. I do not believe he has ever lost the team. Perhaps I am wrong, but the players always sound pretty good to me and they were certainly fired up for yesterday.
Finally, give Coach and Golson credit for yesterday. Zaire was great, and I like him, but when the chips were down, Coach asked Golson to hit a few passes and he did.Just like he did against FSU and Stanford.
Happy New Year to all.

I still have no faith in the coach who cant in five years have a reasonable speical teams–fully on third of every game. I have no faith in a coach who cant develop a QB after five years. i have no faithin a coach who has lost virtually all big games he has been in. this game is an exception but the team we played wa only ranked 23. Against all real good teams we lay an egg. I want to believe in him but he has yet to prove it

Two months of pain gone ended with one game. Thank you ND. My Happy New Year started on Dec 30. Truly a team effort: (1)..LSU did not score during the last 20 minutes of the game (2)..after we got the ball back with 5 minutes and change to go the Tigers never touched the ball again (3)..When we needed them the most Brynza and the special teams came through for us. Look forward to 2015. Happy New Year, everybody. Mike ND 1971

I echo the positive feelings expressed. Euphoria was the feeling I experienced when Brindza kicked the winner. So happy for him and the team! We enter 2015 with renewed hope for a national championship.
For many of us who were screaming for BK to play Zaire there is a sense of what could’ve been had he done just that. From my perspective it was a huge missed opportunity and a coaching failure. I, as many others, felt that Zaire would bring the skill, energy, and leadership that was missing in the latter part of the season. At least that he be given the opportunity to do just that.
It is interesting to note that BK, in his after game interview, said this when asked about Zaire’s game: “He did what WE asked him to do”. This is a telling statement as to who BK is. He could not forego giving himself credit nor could he forego, therefore, implying that he had not made a mistake in not playing him that, he, in fact, had determined the right time and gave him the right package.
As someone else pointed out in an earlier post, He, in that same interview, threw Brindza under the bus by stating they had lost a few games earlier because of missed field goals. How about the coaching mistakes; e,g,not taking a knee against Northwestern with little over a minute to play.
I make these points not to throw cold water on the sense of optimism which prevails but with the hope that BK will develop a bit of humility – a persona able to sincerely praise others with the accolades they deserve without injecting himself into the picture and to accept the principle that the buck stops with him. In doing so, he will mature into the kind of winning coach which expresses the spirit of Notre Dame.

While I’m glad ND won the bowl game that still doesn’t mean 2015 will bring better things and under Kelly ND is becoming a carbon copy of the Iowa Hawkeyes under Kirk Ferentz. Like Iowa, each year will be marked by an upset or near upset of a highly ranked team prompting the super fans to say “we’re back!”. Then there will be 1-2 head scratching losses to inferior opponents and one blowout loss to a team on the schedule resulting in a 7-5 or 8-4 season and berth in the taxslayer.com bowl. Every once in a blue moon we’ll stumble and luck our way to a 10-2 or 11-1 season like Iowa has a couple of times under Ferentz.

Well said, PC. It is better to have BK on the hot seat needing to produce at the top level, than to go looking for another upstart that shows great promise and who gets a 3 year pass while rebuilding in his new direction.
Bk interviewed with the Eagles with no strong intentions of leaving. He had his raise but his assistants did not. After the interview, Diaco was given a raise to $1M, and the other vital assistants were also given raises. On other information, the 49’rs have contacted BK so maybe ND Chicago will get his wish.