ND was one top-10 QB and one top-10 receiver away from making this a game against Alabama.
I'm as frustrated as anyone over Kelly's refusal to play potential gamebreakers because they don't "check off all the boxes." If he can make this one final adjustment, we should see greater things. If not, he has reached a new ceiling, although much higher than from 2010-2016.
Which brings me to this: People who don't see that the Kelly of the past four years is a different coach than the Kelly of the previous seven years aren't seeing things accurately. Yes, he needs to evolve one more time. But give him credit for doing things differently since 2016.