Three years after Brian Kelly left for LSU, Notre Dame is in the national championship game. Here's why the players think Marcus Freeman got them this far.

Notre Dame has clinched its first College Football Playoff National Championship berth since 1988, defeating Penn State in a thrilling 27-24 showdown. The Fighting Irish, now led by head coach Marcus Freeman,

LSU coach Brian Kelly says he's rooting for former school Notre Dame in the CFP final. But would a championship win for the Irish mean more pressure for him?

The Orange Bowl was a huge win for that program. The fact that they made it all this way — against Penn State, no less — speaks to the job Freeman has done. To go from losing to Northern Illinois at the beginning of the season to playing for a national championship is unheard of.

Brian Kelly recruited a good portion of this year's Notre Dame squad, but the LSU football coach swears he isn't jealous.

At the time, it was seen as a major downgrade. Notre Dame was going from Brian Kelly, a proven head coach with an extensive résumé and the school’s all-time leader in wins, to Marcus Freeman, who had been a defensive coordinator for only a few years and had spent only one season in South Bend,