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Hot Seat Watch, Week 1: Winners and losers

By Charles Rahrig V

NASHVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 30: Head coach Kevin Sumlin of the Texas A
NASHVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 30: Head coach Kevin Sumlin of the Texas A /
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SOUTH BEND, IN – SEPTEMBER 02: Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish leaves the field after a game against the Temple Owls at Notre Dame Stadium on September 2, 2017 in South Bend, Indiana. The Irish won 49-16. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, IN – SEPTEMBER 02: Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish leaves the field after a game against the Temple Owls at Notre Dame Stadium on September 2, 2017 in South Bend, Indiana. The Irish won 49-16. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

Winner – Brian Kelly

If people are firmly rooting for Brian Kelly to keep his job at Notre Dame, his team came out and really put on a good showing for their head coach. The Fighting Irish absolutely manhandled the Temple Owls and ran all over them.

The team finished with 422 rushing yards and their offensive line wreaked havoc all day on the defense. It was the showing that seemingly was missed all of last season when Notre Dame played.

When a coach needs a big year from his team to keep his job, it’s always interesting to see the intensity that they end up bringing to the field. In this case, they brought the fire and then some in a great opening performance.

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Kelly has to like what he sees thus far and got a great glimpse of just how dominant his ground game is. With a great line in front, Notre Dame might have found the key to winning a lot more games this season.

If UCLA didn’t end up having a comeback for the ages, Kelly would have indeed been the biggest winner this week. Still, he has to be proud of the job his team did and people certainly will be giving him a much easier time after this one.

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