Brian Kelly was officially announced as the head coach of the LSU Tigers Tuesday morning.

An announcement from the program came less than 24 hours after reporting initially linked him to the position. Things moved quickly and quietly on that front. It was another surprise in a carousel that has been full of them so far, as Kelly ranks 3rd among active head coaches in career wins. He was 113-40 at Notre Dame.

And the Irish still have a chance to make the College Football Playoff this season, having wrapped the regular season this past Saturday with a win over Stanford to move to 11-1. But while others participate in conference title games, one last data point for the CFP selection committee to consider, Notre Dame will sit on the sideline.

According to ESPN’s The Undefeated’s Marcus Spears, speaking Tuesday morning on ‘Get Up,’ the CFP is as big a motivating factor in Kelly’s jump from independence to the SEC as any.

“He knows he has a better chance of winning a national championship at LSU,” Spears said. “This man has almost a 75% winning percentage over his career. So he’s a winner. Brian Kelly wins football games. … You’ve just got to get in. But Brian Kelly realized, once I get in, there is a different level to the teams I’m playing against.

“Coaches say all the time, ‘when you get to the SEC, it’s a different level of player,’ and Brian Kelly acknowledges that and I know people across the country don’t want to hear that and it doesn’t mean other programs and schools can’t win national championships, but when you have a resume that Brian Kelly has, when you can attract the kind of players that you can at a program like LSU and come in to play in the SEC—because all these young kids are thinking about I can go to the NFL and have a long career—you get better players. You have more of an opportunity to compete on the highest level when you get to the College Football Playoff and I’m sure that’s why the decision was made.”

If that is indeed the case, Kelly’s thinking wouldn’t be too out there. Each of LSU’s last 3 coaches have won national championships at the school. Kelly got the Irish to the BCS National Championship in 2012 but lost. He has led 2 CFP teams, in 2018 and 2020, but lost both semifinal games.