When Kelly took the job at LSU, debate ensued. Notre Dame fans felt slighted by Kelly’s departure and wanted to prove that South Bend was a place with the resources to win a national title. Freeman got the Irish close, but not any closer than Kelly did in 2012.

LSU head coach Brian Kelly left Notre Dame because he felt like he couldn’t win a national championship there. Well, the Fighting Irish are a win away from proving him very, very wrong.

Notre Dame has clinched its first College Football Playoff National Championship berth since 1988, defeating Penn State in a thrilling 27-24 showdown. The Fighting Irish, now led by head coach Marcus Freeman,

Three years after Brian Kelly left for LSU, Notre Dame is in the national championship game. Here's why the players think Marcus Freeman got them this far.

The Fighting Irish were coming off their worst three-year stretch in some time when Kelly was hired. Through his 12 years in South Bend, Kelly compiled seven records of 10 or more wins and coached 55 NFL Draft picks, including 10 first-rounders.

The Orange Bowl was a huge win for that program. The fact that they made it all this way — against Penn State, no less — speaks to the job Freeman has done. To go from losing to Northern Illinois at the beginning of the season to playing for a national championship is unheard of.

In total, Notre Dame has gone 33-9 under Freeman, with wins in the Gator Bowl, Sun Bowl, and three College Football Playoff games. Over that same period, LSU has gone 29-11 under Kelly, and has never reached the CFP.

The National Championship game between Ohio State and Notre Dame is here at last. Ohio State and Notre Dame will square off at 7:30 p.m. to decide who the top team in college football is. In the first season of the expanded College Football Playoff format,