Whatever Brian Kelly told the Notre Dame players on his way out the door Tuesday morning, his final team meeting didn't include the words, "It's not worth it.".

At perhaps the most storied sports program in the world, one in the thick of a College Football Playoff race with a national championship potentially within reach, Kelly punted.

For Kelly, it was not worth chasing the dragon that has kept the coach from getting a statue built outside Notre Dame Stadium.

On the same day Lincoln Riley was labeled a "traitor" on the Oklahoma campus for taking the USC job, Kelly called … and raised.

Six days before his team could get into the CFP for the third time in four years, Kelly not only accepted the LSU job, he left right away.

Among the messages Kelly sent: I don't think the Fighting Irish are going to get to the playoff, but even if they do, I don't care because they aren't going to win anyway.

"You've seen a significant shift: a shift in mobility and a shift in compensation," Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said Tuesday.

What do we want college football to be and make sure it still fits inside the university environment?".

Swarbrick is in a situation where his program may make a playoff without a designated interim coach.

That also begs the question: Why could Kelly not have waited a week to see if Notre Dame was eliminated.

You can bet Cincinnati's Luke Fickell, who many believe is the favorite to replace Kelly, will make Notre Dame wait for the Bearcats' playoff run to end.

Last week, Riley was on the cusp of a fifth straight Big 12 title and possible playoff berth?

"The history of this program," Riley said Monday at his USC introductory press conference, "is as good as it gets in college football.".

Kelly leaving less than a week before the Notre Dame program he nurtured back to health could clinch a playoff berth comes just eight days after he proclaimed his loyalty to the Irish.

I'd have to run it by her," Kelly said.

Turns out it only took a reported $95 million over 10 years for Kelly to depart immediately.

In a period of seven days, we now have four coaches – Tucker, Riley, Kelly and Penn State's James Franklin -- making significantly more than the average NFL coach (average salary: $6.7 million).

A week ago, Notre Dame and Oklahoma had one loss between them?

It says the NCAA has been misclassifying college players as "student-athletes" for 68 years

No one can doubt the return on investment with Riley and Kelly

There are six or seven teams still alive in the College Football Playoff