Brian Kelly becoming the next head coach of LSU was the most unexpected turn of events in recent college football history. As we all know by now, Kelly suddenly left Notre Dame to sign a contract worth nearly $100 million to replace Ed Orgeron and then fumbled the exit process with the Fighting Irish players. Kelly then showed up to his first Tigers press conference with a newfound Southern twang and went viral for a TikTok with a recruit that ended up signing with Alabama.

It's a wild situation for all sorts of reasons, but the craziest part of all might've been that Kelly left Notre Dame before the final College Football Playoff rankings were announced. The Fighting Irish were on the outside looking in at the time of Kelly's departure but it was before the conference championship games were played, too.

In an alternate timeline where Michigan dropped the Big Ten Championship against Iowa or the committee was simply feeling generous, Notre Dame would've ended up in the CFP… without its head coach. A wild reality that never came to be, but one that was on everybody's mind in the six days between Kelly's departure and the final CFP rankings release.