Posted by: Chris Vannini on February 7, 2013

Brian Kelly can't argue with the results.

Alabama was clearly the better team in Notre Dame's blowout loss in the BCS National Championship Game.

But as Kelly went back and looked through the tape, he felt a little better. While on The Tim Brando Show to talk about his incoming recruiting class, Kelly explained why things weren't as bad as they seemed.

"I will say this: Alabama clearly was the better football team," Kelly said. I felt that. Obviously people saw the game. The score indicated that. But when I got a chance to sit back and look at film and really study is, they still were the better team, but the gap is not as big as I thought it was. It can be addressed through recruiting. It can be addressed through player development, and I think that this class is another step toward closing that gap.

"Now, we've got more work to do, there's no question, but it really is a big day for us. After the sting of that loss, we wanted to take the next step forward, and I think we do with this class."

In between the national championship game and signing day was more drama. Before the Manti Te'o Catfishing hoax made national news, Kelly was in the headlines for meeting with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Kelly says he didn't have much interest in leaving for the NFL right now, but knows the calls will keep coming, and he wants to make better-educated decisions down the road.

"I went in there with a mindset of intrigue over interest," Kelly said. "I didn't know about the game. I didn't know what the front office looked like. How decisions are made, how teams are constructed from an NFL perspective. I knew from a college perspective.

"We're going to win again, and we're going to win again next year, and I'm going to get another phone call and I want to be able to say no with some intelligence behind it. This was more about learning for me and understanding the NFL process. But I didn't go into the process with, 'This is what I want. I want to be an NFL football coach right now.'

"I've got a lot to do here. I'm a college coach for over 25 years. It's hard to break that. You can shop for the groceries and cook the meal, as Bill Parcells used to say."

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Chris Vannini is the lead writer for CoachingSearch.com and has covered Michigan State sports for The State News, The Oakland Press and MLive.com. He writes a weekly column for the Detroit Free Press on behalf of SB Nation. Vannini lives in Big Ten country, so his foot speed is far from SEC caliber, but his pulse on coaches is hard to match. Be sure to follow @CoachingBuzz on twitter and send your feedback to chris@coachingsearch.com