The next day, Brian Kelly’s biggest regret was Notre Dame let a game with Florida State come down to a point where a penalty he still insisted should not have been called could have so much to do with the outcome.
“I mean, you got to take the belt from the champion,” the Fighting Irish coach said Sunday, a little more than 12 hours after Notre Dame lost 31-27 in Tallahassee, Florida. “You can’t leave it up to a decision that’s made at the end.”
A decision Kelly disagrees with.
The Irish scored an apparent go-ahead touchdown with 13 seconds left against the second-ranked Seminoles on a 2-yard pass from Everett Golson to Corey Robinson on fourth down. The score was wiped out by an offensive pass interference penalty and Notre Dame’s second crack at fourth down, this time from the 18, came up empty.
Kelly said after looking at the tape that his opinion about the play was unchanged. The Irish did nothing wrong.