Oct 19, 2014 4 min read

The next day, Brian Kelly’s biggest regret was Notre Dame let a game with Florida State come down to a point where a penalty he still insisted should not have been called could have so much to do with the outcome.

“I mean, you got to take the belt from the champion,” the Fighting Irish coach said Sunday, a little more than 12 hours after Notre Dame lost 31-27 in Tallahassee, Fla. “You can’t leave it up to a decision that’s made at the end.”

A decision Kelly disagrees with.

The Irish scored an apparent go-ahead touchdown with 13 seconds left against the second-ranked Seminoles on a 2-yard pass from Everett Golson to Corey Robinson on fourth down. The score was wiped out by an offensive pass interference penalty and Notre Dame’s second crack at fourth down, this time from the 18, came up empty.

Kelly said after looking at the tape that his opinion about the play was unchanged. The Irish did nothing wrong.

In fact, if anything, Kelly said he was even more confused by the call now because officials informed him the flag was on receiver Will Fuller and not C.J. Prosise.

Both players jammed up the middle of Florida State’s coverage, allowing Robinson to cut to the outside uncovered.

Prosise seemed to lock up a Florida State defensive back, while Fuller was also in the scrum of two Irish receivers and three FSU defenders.

“Florida State blew the coverage and they got rewarded for it,” Kelly said. “So, it’s unfortunate.”

The play was similar to one Notre Dame used to score a touchdown in the first quarter on a pass to Robinson. Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said Saturday night that after the first score, he had asked officials to be wary of illegal picks being set by Notre Dame receivers.

Kelly said the fourth-quarter play was different from the one in the first.

“We ran it out of a bunch formation,” Kelly said. “This is a totally different play, one we had not run before.

Kelly said Prosise’s job on that play is to get into the end zone, turn around and become a big target. The junior is 6 feet and 220 pounds.

“He was immediately grabbed at the line of scrimmage,” Kelly said. “I don’t know who saw it as interference but you’ve got two guys that are trying to fight for space. We saw it as such.”

Good luck, selection committee: The first season of the College Football Playoff is a little more than halfway in the books and there are just four unbeaten teams left in FBS. Two play each other (No. 1 Mississippi State and No. 3 Mississippi). One is No. 2 Florida State, which has spent a good chunk of this season dancing around trap doors. The other is No. 23 Marshall, which plays one of the weakest schedules in the country and realistically has little chance of being part of the football final four.

And for those who think Marshall’s chances are much closer to none than slim, let’s just say it’s best to never say never.

There are also 17 one-loss teams, from No. 4 Alabama to unranked Minnesota and Duke that have every right to dream big.

“I hadn’t gone there,” Duke coach David Cutcliffe said with a little bit of a laugh on Sunday.

“I do know where we are right now it gives us an opportunity to continue to play very meaningful games.”

If the Blue Devils (or Gophers) were to run the table, why wouldn’t they have a case to play for the national championship? The selection committee’s first top 25 comes out Oct. 28, and this race promises to take plenty of twists and turns before the field is set on Dec. 7.