Watching Cincinnati play Florida last night was like watching 5-year olds take on the 2000 Baltimore Ravens. It was apparent from the start that the game was more of a get-together for the Gators and less of a BCS bowl.

Tim Tebow completed 31-of-35 passes for 482 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for 51 yards and a TD. Florida’s defense also held Cincinnati’s “high-powered” offense to just 170 passing yards and 76 rushing.

After watching that game, I’d be shocked if Brian Kelly woke up this morning and could look at himself in the mirror. He was the commander and chief of a team that he allowed to walk into an ambush by themselves with little to no direction. It wouldn’t have mattered if Kelly was on the sidelines because Florida was bigger, faster, stronger and just flat out better, but he should have been there regardless.

The guy I felt most sorry for was quarterback Tony Pike. He didn’t have a chance to succeed because the overmatched, unprepared coaching staff that Kelly left Cincinnati with didn’t put him in a position to win. They kept calling bootlegs and rollouts to the short side of the field, which clearly played into Florida’s hands. He also didn’t have any clue what to do when the Gators blitzed because every time he got the ball to his hot receiver a Florida defender was there to take the wideout’s life. I could smell the crap in Pike’s draws from my couch but I don’t blame him: I blame the coaching staff for not getting him prepared for what he was going to face.

Again, had Kelly been there, it’s not likely that much would have changed. Florida was the vastly superior team in every phase of the game and it showed. But Kelly would have gained some respect had he been there to fall with the rest of his team. I realize that he has the right to a promotion and move up the coaching ladder, but it disgusts me that he benefits from all of this, while his former players suffer (especially the seniors, who were routed on national television in their final game).

Cincinnati’s effort last night was putrid, but how could you blame them? They were down a head coach and an offensive playcaller from the start and Florida took advantage by breaking their neck and stomping on their spines just for good measure. Hopefully Kelly watched last night and couldn’t keep his food down thinking about the 80-plus kids he screwed. That game was an embarrassment to college football and so are coaches like Kelly.

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According to ESPN.com, Notre Dame signed Brian Kelly to a five-year deal to become the school’s next head coach. Kelly will not coach Cincinnati when the program takes on Florida in the Sugar Bowl early next month.

The news didn’t play well with Kelly’s current team. Bearcat players were led into a meeting room, where Kelly told them he was leaving and thanked them for making his opportunity possible. One minute into the meeting, the door opened and receiver Mardy Gilyard walked out angry and alone, save his MVP trophy.

“He went for the money,” Gilyard told The Associated Press. “I’m fairly disgusted with the situation, that they let it last this long.”

Players weren’t told of Kelly’s decision until the banquet ended, nearly three hours after the news first broke. A few blinked back tears as they left.

“We already knew what he was going to say. We weren’t giving him a round of applause or anything,” tight end Ben Guidugli said. “It’s like somebody turned their back on us. We brought this whole thing this far. We’ve come this far. To have someone walk out now is disappointing.”

Kelly did the exact same thing to his former players at Central Michigan before their bowl game in 2006 after the Chippewas won the MAC Championship. And just like in 2006 when he coached CMU in its bowl game, offensive coordinator Jeff Quinn will fill in for Kelly at the Sugar Bowl.

None of this should surprise anyone seeing as how Kelly and Notre Dame spoke last week. Kelly has won everywhere he’s been and that’s exactly what the Irish seek right now: A winner. He turned Grand Valley State into a D-II powerhouse, brought a MAC championship to Mt. Pleasant and made Cincinnati a national title contender. He has become the hottest name in college football and if his track record is any indication of how he’ll do in South Bend, he’ll be very successful turning the Notre Dame program around.

That said, it’s disappointing that yet another college coach turned his back on his players to advance his career. But that’s reality. Players come and go every four years (or less) and coaches have to job hop in order to further their careers. It’s not an ideal format, but I get it.

Kelly will have his work cut out for him. Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate (ND’s best players) have decided to enter April’s NFL draft and the Irish are void of talent on the defensive side of the ball. But again, if there’s one man that can turn around Notre Dame’s misfortunes, it might just be Kelly.

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ESPN.com is reporting that Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly would entertain the idea of talking to Notre Dame next week about the school’s open coaching position.

Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly told ESPN this week that he promised fans he would focus on the Pitt game and that speculation he is a candidate for the Notre Dame opening wouldn’t be a distraction.

Kelly still maintains that it hasn’t been, adding that he was staying away from it until after the game, but if Notre Dame wanted to speak with him next week, he would “entertain” their request.

Kelly told a local radio station in Cincinnati that he’s happy at Cincy and wants to stay there long term. But that means nothing, especially coming from a man that ditched Central Michigan in 2006 before its bowl game in order to take the vacant position in Cincinnati.

Kelly has successfully climbed the latter from D-III head coach at Grand Valley State, to MAC coach at CMU to Big East coach at Cincinnati. If Notre Dame calls, there is little doubt that he won’t at least entertain the offer. And chances are, Cincinnati won’t come up with the money it’ll take to retain Kelly’s services and he’ll move on.

Regular readers know that I think Kelly would be a perfect fit for the Irish, even though I would think it would be admirable if he stayed at Cincinnati and continued to grow that program. We’ll see what happens.

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The Chicago Sun Times is speculating that Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly could leave the Bearcats in the dust and coach Notre Dame in a bowl game if the two parties come to a contract agreement following the firing of Charlie Weis.

Backstage speculation is brewing that Kelly might resurrect an old trick and forsake whatever venue the bowl-bound Bearcats earn and instead drop shillelagh to stay through the holidays and beyond in South Bend.

That means Kelly could stage- manage his first game for the Fighting Irish later this month if they accept a minor bowl bid. The short list of interested committees reportedly includes those from the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in Detroit on Dec. 26, the EagleBank Bowl in Washington on Dec. 29, the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho, on Dec. 30 and the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala., on Jan. 6.

‘I think it could happen again,” said Tom Beck, the longtime Midwestern coach (Notre Dame, Illinois, Marv Levy’s Chicago Blitz) who gave Kelly his first significant college football job at Grand Valley (Mich.) State in 1987. ”There is no question Brian could be facing a real conflict. If Cincinnati beats Pittsburgh this weekend, they go to a BCS game. But Notre Dame, I’m sure, wants to hire and implement as quickly as possible.

”The Notre Dame job would be his new long-term challenge. Then there’s the fact he’d be moving to an 80,000-seat stadium from one that seats somewhere around 38,000. And the budgets at the two schools are in no way comparable.”

This is all just speculation but as the article points out, Kelly has already left one program (Central Michigan) right before its bowl game in order to join a bigger, better job (Cincinnati), so what’s from stopping him from doing it again this year? (Especially now that the bigger, better job is Notre Dame.)

If Kelly ditched Cincinnati for Notre Dame, he would spawn from the Bobby Petrino and Rich Rodriguez school of thinking in that loyalty means absolutely nothing in college football. He would once again look like the deserter he is, but mid-level schools are always aware that their head coach will be sought after by bigger programs.

Putting that aside, I would be intrigued by what Kelly could do for the Irish over the next couple years. The guy has a proven track record of turning programs around (Grand Valley State, CMU, Cincinnati) in a short period of time and he understands how to build a winner on the college level. His offensive system is perfect for college football and he could re-introduce Notre Dame to the fundamentals of the game, which have been lacking over the past couple years.

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In a move that will shock next to nobody, Notre Dame fired head coach Charlie Weis on Monday according to NBC Sports.com.

In the end, Weis went 35-27 in his five years as Irish head coach, a .565 winning percentage that was worse than the .583 posted by his two predecessors, Tyrone Willingham and Bob Davie. They were both fired, too. He leaves with one of the worst winning percentages of any Fighting Irish coach: Only four of Notre Dame’s previous 27 coaches won at a lower percentage.

Among the people considered likely candidates are Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly, TCU coach Gary Patterson and Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh. The task for athletic director Jack Swarbrick, who is in his second year on the job, is to find a coach who can end the longest title drought in Notre Dame history.

It’s amazing to think that when it’s all said and done, Weis was one of the worst to ever coach at Notre Dame. He got off to such a promising start, but his crop of recruits never panned out (save for quarterback Jimmy Clausen and receiver Golden Tate), especially on the defensive side of the ball.

It’ll be interesting to see where Weis will wind up after this. My guess would be in the NFL as an offensive coordinator, but I’m sure smaller programs would love to have him as their head coach. If he does stay in the collegiate ranks, it would be interesting to see if he would have any success or if his future is in the NFL as a coordinator.

I would like to see what Brian Kelly could do at Notre Dame. The man turned little known Grand Valley State into a D-3 powerhouse, Central Michigan in a MAC champion and Cincinnati into a national title contender. That’s not to say that he’ll have success at Notre Dame too, but give him three years and I’m willing to bet that he’ll make a winner out of the Irish yet again.

That said, it would also be nice if a coach like Kelly showed a little loyalty to his program. He left CMU in the lurch right before the Motor City Bowl a couple years ago and to coach at Notre Dame, he would have to do the same to Cincinnati. I realize the opportunity to coach at Notre Dame doesn’t come around often for head coaches, but the Bearcats finally have something brewing and Kelly is the reason for that.

Again, it would be nice to see a college coach stick around for longer than 2-3 years before screwing their program.

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