Skip Bayless slammed the Notre Dame Fighting Irish‘s defense as disappointing as their season unfurled against the Ohio State Buckeyes, losing 34-21 in the College Football Playoffs National Championship.
A horror show in the second quarter saw the Buckeyes score 21 points to their rivals’ zero, handing them a commanding position going into half-time. Afterwards, they simply managed the game to secure the title.
The game was initially poised to be an excellent intrigue of an unstoppable offense against an unmovable defense, but that sharply proved to not be the reality as Ohio’s quarterback, Will Howard, undid all of Notre Dame’s plans.
So with the game evolving into a procession, fans found themselves a bit frustrated and one of those people was Bayless, who headed to social media to air his complaints to Marcus Freeman.
“Disappointed in the Irish D,” Bayless posted to X.com, formerly Twitter. “No pass rush.
“Too much confusion. Getting spun by Chip Kelly‘s wizardry and weaponry.”
Chip Kelly’s gamble pays off
With the commanding lead in place, even when Notre Dame pulled the score back to 31-15, they still faced a mountain to climb to get back into the contest and despite their spirit; it proved too much for the Fighting Irish.
It’s a remarkable story for Kelly on a personal note, after he only joined the Buckeyes as their offensive coordinator in 2024 when he decided to leave the UCLA Bruins, despite being their head coach.
“I actually coached the quarterbacks for the bowl game,” Kelly told reporters in 2024. “And I just started to think, like I hadn’t actually coached a position since 2008. I think my wife remarked, she was like, ‘I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time.’
“And, to me, the best part of football is football. And so, you got to do football, and not do some of the things involved with the head coaching deal.
“So I started to look into, ‘Is there an opportunity?’ And it would have had to been the right spot to go somewhere and just coach a position again and be back with that group.”