As the 2024 college football season drew to a close, the contrast between the LSU Tigers fading from Playoff consideration and dismissing Brian Kelly while Notre Dame built momentum to an eventual National Championship Game run.

It’s perhaps fitting, then, that the nadir of the Kelly era at LSU came in back-to-back losses to former Kelly assistants under the Golden Dome.

First up in Week 8 was Clark Lea, head coach of a Vanderbilt team that, if it weren’t for Indiana, would be the most shocking Playoff hopeful from a historical perspective.

Lea spent four seasons on Kelly’s staff at Notre Dame, including two as defensive coordinator that resulted in the Fighting Irish reaching the four-team version of the Playoff.

Such a resume would seemingly have earned him a more high-profile opport

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