With the end of the 2019 football season, Notre Dame football wrapped up its tenth season under Brian Kelly’s stewardship. Since 2010, Kelly has amassed a 92-37 record and a unique legacy with the Irish, being among the most successful coaches in ND football history yet still looking for the elusive national championship.
This series will be a full ranking of every game Kelly has won at Notre Dame, from the ugly to the euphoric. This installment will be the lowest tier of wins, those that made Irish fans cringe or fall asleep from boredom. Most were against poor competition and were unnecessarily close. Yet they were wins nonetheless and every fan probably has a unique memory of what they remember.
The Criteria
The simple equation for this exercise is [(Excitement at the time + Quality of Opponent) * Legacy]. All of these factors are graded on a scale of 1-10 and the final score is divided by two in order to get a nice number between 1-100. Here are the elements of this formula:
Excitement at the time: Pretty self-explanatory, it’s how excited the fanbase was at the end of the game. This can sometimes be based on how pumped ND fans were after a big win (37-0 over Michigan), or how exciting the game was in general. But mostly the former.
Quality of Opponent: This is based on how good the opponent was and how it ended the season. The .500 or under teams generally rank from 1-5, while better teams are in the 6-10 range. The very best of these teams are between 9-10 with 10 being a legitimate top-5, national title contender.
Legacy: How has this game been remembered? For some of these games, you can remember exactly where you were and what you were doing. For others, you might have even forgotten ND played on that Saturday. This category also includes how that win reflects on Brian Kelly’s legacy at Notre Dame and how much it contributed to his tenure as coach.
For those games that share the same score, the tiebreaker is usually decided by how good the Irish finished that season and other arbitrary factors. Feel free to look at these rankings however you want as a fan and project your own feelings on these wins.
So here we go with the definitive ranking of every BK win as head coach at Notre Dame:
#92: 2018 Ball State, 24-16
Excitement: 1
Quality of Opponent: 1
Legacy: 1
Final Score: 1/100
If a win could be considered “bad,” then this would be the worst of the Kelly Era by a wide margin. The Irish sleep-walked through a bad MAC team and undid much of the momentum from a big win against Michigan. I would give this a negative score if I could.
#91: 2013 Purdue, 31-24
Excitement: 2
Quality of Opponent: 1
Legacy: 1
Final Score: 1.5/100
Against one of the worst P5 teams of the last decade, the defending national runner ups nearly lost a game that was inexplicably played on Saturday Night Football. The only redeeming factors from this match-up were a cool pick-6 by Bennett Jackson and a monster game from Davaris Daniels (8 receptions for 167 yards and two touchdowns).
#90: 2018 Navy, 44-22
Excitement: 3
Quality of Opponent: 1
Legacy: 1
Final Score: 2/100
This was a pretty clinical performance against the worst Navy team in almost 20 years. The Irish led 27-0 at halftime and barely showed up for the second half which makes this among the most boring games on this list.
#89: 2016 Nevada, 39-10
Excitement: 2
Quality of Opponent: 2
Legacy: 1
Final Score: 2/100
Can anyone name a thing that happened in this game other than it was the week after the loss at Texas? Although it did feature a rare kickoff-kneel-safety from Nevada which was fun.
#88: 2013 Air Force, 45-10
Excitement: 4
Quality of Opponent: 1
Legacy: 1
Final Score: 2.5/100
This game featured five touchdown passes from Tommy Rees, Will Fuller’s first collegiate touchdown, and nice blowout win over a 2-10 Air Force team.
#87: 2010 Western Michigan, 44-20
Excitement: 3
Quality of Opponent: 2
Legacy: 1
Final Score: 2.5/100
(Warning: terrible and loud early YouTube highlight music above). This was the BK offense we had been waiting for even though it came against a mediocre MAC team. Dayne Crist played a good game and the Irish defense forced four turnovers.
#86: 2013 Temple, 28-6
Excitement: 2
Quality of Opponent: 1
Legacy: 2
Final Score: 3/100
What looked like a massive blowout in the first quarter turned into a slog against 2-10 Temple. Tommy Rees had his best game as an ND quarterback and there were some exciting moments, but ultimately this was a forgettable affair.
#85: 2015 UMass, 62-27
Excitement: 3
Quality of Opponent: 1
Legacy: 2
Final Score: 4/100
With a better defensive performance, this game would’ve been an epic blowout on par with some SoCon Saturday games in the SEC. However thanks to some first half BVG shenanigans, the Irish had to settle for scoring 60+ against a hapless UMass team that finished 2-10.
#84: 2011 Maryland, 45-21
Excitement: 3
Quality of Opponent: 1
Legacy: 2
Final Score: 4/100
ND’s stars shined brightly against Randy Edsall’s first clown-dressed unit at Maryland. Tommy Rees finished 30-37 with two touchdowns, Jonas Gray ran for 136 yards, and Mike Floyd had a lovely leaping touchdown in the first quarter. This game is also memorable for featuring the over-sized shamrock stickers on the helmets the Irish wore for the Shamrock Series.
#83: 2019 Bowling Green, 52-0
Excitement: 4
Quality of Opponent: 1
Legacy: 2
Final Score: 5/100
This was a shutout win against a horrendous Bowling Green team coordinated by none other than VanGorder himself. That alone places this game in higher esteem regarding excitement and legacy.
#82: 2015 Boston College, 19-16
Excitement: 1
Quality of Opponent: 4
Legacy: 2
Final Score: 5/100
The 2015 Eagles are the first team on this list to have a truly elite unit: their defense which finished 5th in SP+. Even so, the Irish offense piled up almost 450 yards and 22 first downs only to frustratingly turn the ball over five times. Thus, a potential blowout turned into a close game in Fenway Park but the Irish were able to avoid a humiliating loss to an Eagles squad dressed in the Flutie-uni.
#81: 2014 Navy, 49-39
Excitement: 1
Quality of Opponent: 4
Legacy: 2
Final Score: 5/100
Despite a lot of offensive fireworks, this was an unsatisfying performance that came off the heels of ND’s loss at Florida State. The Irish looked like they were on the verge of blowing the Middies out before Navy scored 24 straight points to take the lead. Everett Golson and Co. finally reasserted control in the fourth quarter to win, but the Irish defense lost Joe Schmidt for the rest of the season. Things spiraled from there.
#80: 2012 Boston College, 21-6
Excitement: 3
Quality of Opponent: 2
Legacy: 2
Final Score: 5/100
This was a sluggish, boring affair where the Irish strangled the 2-10 Eagles in Chestnut Hill. Notre Dame still looked hungover following consecutive iconic wins against Oklahoma and Pitt the two previous weeks. Yet this game gets points because the Irish improved to 10-0 for the first time since 1993 against the team which ruined that very season.
#79: 2011 Navy, 56-14
Excitement: 3
Quality of Opponent: 2
Legacy: 2
Final Score: 5/100
(Apparently no highlight video exists of this game)
Another Irish win against a bad Navy team. This one was over early as ND built a 35-7 halftime lead and cruised to victory a week after a deflating loss to USC. Despite what must have been a lot of highlights from a game where the Irish scored 56, no video of it exists anywhere on the web.
#78: 2016 Syracuse, 50-33
Excitement: 3
Quality of Opponent: 3
Legacy: 2
Final Score: 6/100
The Irish piled up almost 700 yards of offense and 50 points in the Meadowlands, which would usually be cause for celebration were this not taking place in Brian Kelly’s season from hell. Following a wild first half, the game settled down and the Irish defense, having been freed from the BVG Prison, ran the Orange offense through the juicer.
#77: 2014 Purdue, 30-14
Excitement: 3
Quality of Opponent: 3
Legacy: 2
Final Score: 6/100
Coming off the legendary 37-0 win over Michigan, the 2014 Irish went down to Indianapolis and found themselves losing to a bad Purdue team in the second quarter. Luckily Everett Golson and Corey Robinson rescued the situation and the Irish won another Shamrock Series game over their hapless in-state rivals.
#76: 2011 Boston College, 16-14
Excitement: 3
Quality of Opponent: 3
Legacy: 2
Final Score: 6/100
Any Senior Day victory is exciting, although this was the most bleak of Kelly’s tenure. The Irish offense was mostly dominated by Luke Keuchly but the defense played well enough to ensure Notre Dame was never in danger of losing. Sadly, this was Jonas Gray’s last game in an Irish uniform after tearing his ACL in the second half.
#75: 2019 New Mexico, 66-14
Excitement: 4
Quality of Opponent: 1
Legacy: 3
Final Score: 7.5/100
This is the highest point total the Irish have scored under Brian Kelly and it came against the Bob Davie-less Lobos of New Mexico. This was a pretty entertaining blowout against a terrible Mountain West team that would finish 2-10 and get the former Irish coach fired.
#74: 2015 Wake Forest, 28-7
Excitement: 2
Quality of Opponent: 3
Legacy: 3
Final Score: 7.5/100
This game is notable for being the contest where Kelly discovered Mike Elko, and by extension, Clark Lea. The Demon Deacons mostly shut down the high-powered Irish offense but not before Josh Adams ran 98 yards to put ND up 21-0 in the second quarter. Oddly enough, a horrendous Wake offense (112 in Offensive SP+) managed to out-gain one of the best offenses in ND football history by a margin of 340-272.
#73: 2017 Miami (OH), 52-17
Excitement: 5
Quality of Opponent: 3
Legacy: 2
Final Score: 8/100
This was a pleasant blowout win over our good friend Chuck Martin who has Done Good Things™ at Miami since he left Notre Dame.
#72: 2013 Rutgers, 29-16
Excitement: 4
Quality of Opponent: 4
Legacy: 2
Final Score: 8/100
The 2013 Pinstripe Bowl is the first postseason game on this list and there’s not much to say. It’s noteworthy for being Tommy Rees’ last game as a Notre Dame quarterback and Zack Martin winning the bowl game MVP as an offensive lineman. Other than that, it was a sluggish win over a bad Rutgers team finishing up their first season in the B1G.
#71: 2017 Navy, 24-17
Excitement: 1
Quality of Opponent: 5
Legacy: 3
Final Score: 9/100
The Irish averted a huge upset in miserable weather a week after no-showing in South Beach. The Middies played their style of game throughout but a fourth quarter rally and defensive stand saved the day.
#70: 2011 Pitt, 15-12
Excitement: 3
Quality of Opponent: 5
Legacy: 3
Final Score: 9/100
In another ugly game, the Irish went into Heinz Field and scraped by Todd Graham’s best Pitt team. Tommy Rees led a game-winning drive and Bob Diaco’s defense sealed the deal. Additionally, Jonas Gray exploded onto the scene with a scintillating touchdown run in the second quarter. As a whole, this was a sleepy noon affair.
#69: 2014 Syracuse, 31-15
Excitement: 4
Quality of Opponent: 3
Legacy: 3
Final Score: 10.5/100
Remember when Everett Golson almost set the NCAA record for consecutive passes completed in a single game? This was a strange contest, with the Irish mostly dominating but the Orange hanging around but never enough to truly threaten.
#68: 2017 North Carolina, 33-10
Excitement: 5
Quality of Opponent: 1
Legacy: 4
Final Score: 12/100
This game scores some decent Excitement and Legacy points for being Ian Book’s first ever start, albeit against a hopeless 3-9 UNC team in Chapel Hill. It also featured an underrated Josh Adams performance as he finished with 9.1 ypc on 13 carries in a second half monsoon.
Let me know in the comments below what you think of the rankings so far and stay tuned for the next tier!
I’m glad the wins get better from here because this is a pretty depressing list. I’d probably have 2017 Navy lower, as that game was one of the more bumming-hard wins I’ve ever seen. It was clear watching it that the no-show in Miami the week prior wasn’t the complete fluke I hoped it would be.
I remember that ’16 Syracuse game being pretty fun, despite how bad the team was.
My favorite memory of the Ball St. game is that I put together a new grill
9.1 ypc for Adams is pretty ho-hum. What’s that, like one 90+ run? Yawwwwn
Glad to have all the Navy, Purdue and Boston College wins out of the way. Those are definitely the top 3 teams that are regularly on our schedule where beating them brings me no joy.
Surprised the near debacle against Vanderbilt didn’t make the list, that was a brutal 1-2 combo with the Ball St. Probably the worst 2 week stretch a playoff team has ever had?
Nothing personal about my personal reaction, Shoelace, but I am always happy to beat Navy (I was in the Stadium for the Roger Staubach Heisman season blowout of us, and raised on stories of Navy saving the school during WWII); Purdue was a tough rival for a long time; and BC… honestly, let’s keep up our new found domination forever.
Nice idea for a series, Golden, and thanks for all the work!
Thank you!
Always enjoy your unique perspective. I’m sure I also would take Navy more seriously if I had ever witnessed them as a football power.
Don’t worry, the 2018 Vandy win isn’t far behind. I’d say 2014 FSU and 2015 MSU had similar stretches.
It’s a valid point, those teams slogged through with broken Golson and ugly manball respectively. 2015 MSU had back to back 1 score wins against baddd Nebraska and Purdue teams. Although any comparison that puts us in the same bucket as the worst playoff team of all time makes me uncomfortable.
Sorry they lost to a mediocre Nebraska team, and played tight with an awful Rutgers team and Purdue in succession. Shame on me for getting my 2015 MSU facts wrong, legendary team that it is.
2014 tOSU
week 1: beat 8-5 Navy by 7 (same score Rutgers beat Navy, closer than Navy’s losses to WKU, AF, and ND). The ’18 Vandy team had better wins than the ’14 Navy team.
week 2: LOST to 7-6 VT. That’s a worse 2 week stretch in my book.
Yeah, but I’d be happier with that 2 week stretch and winning the Natty over our 2 week stretch and getting blown out by Clemson.
I was at a bunch of these games! I don’t disagree with the rankings, but I have thoughts on a few:
My brother was a freshman in 2013 and our parents got us tickets to the Pinstripe Bowl. We took a Megabus to NYC and made a day of it. It was fun even if the game itself was meh.
In 2016 my dad and I drove up to the Meadowlands for the Syracuse game. It was wild and we had a blast.
Last fall I took my fiance’s family to an ND game, their first, and we went to New Mexico. Her one nephew now wants to go to Notre Dame, so it was a good visit!
Looking forward to the next part!
Same, I try to go to a game a year, and geographically it’s usually on the road. I got a couple of the wins here (’14 Navy, ’17 UNC) and, unfortunately, a lot of my Kelly home games were losses. Which is a bummer to realize.
Flew in from Paris for the Pinstripe Bowl, linked up with my daughter and husband and grandson, like you, had a great day.
What Golden missed was that this game was instrumental in ND getting the video board . Yankee Stadium’s was so well done, and in such non-commercial and pro-ND values ways, that Father Jenkins and Jack saw what might be done. This led also to ND hiring Mike Bonner, the talent who orchestrates the Board since its inception.
I actually had no idea about any of that. Maybe if we had played in a better bowl game there wouldn’t be a video board?
Sorry for the delay. Maybe yes. This experience led to ND being really comfortable, and Bonner being hired (after he spent two years running the board for the Denver Broncos ). Anyway, the board has helped us have… More Noise!
Take care, all!
I was at a few of these as well. I got cheap tickets to WMU and just decided to go for the hell of it, my now-wife got me tickets to ’11 Navy as a birthday present (while it’s hard to imagine a nice lopsided win being boring, I also don’t remember a single thing about the game itself), and most notably, Ball State is my alma mater, so I went to that one. It’s probably a good thing BSU is my alma mater because it meant I didn’t hate the way that one played out as much as most.
I was kinda surprised 2011 Wake Forest wasn’t lower. Even though it was my first ND game and it’ll always be very special to me it was a violently boring game at times
Man, that Ball State game was rough. I still remember my section of the stadium pretty outwardly booing Wimbush and calling for his benching, while I was stewing on the inside, still thinking he was the guy and that we needed to support him. I was obviously proven wrong in retrospect, but that was hands-down the worst-feeling win I experienced.
I was at 2011 BC and man was it terrible. I sat in the south endzone and it felt like the entire game was both teams punting the ball away right in front of me.
It was the epitome of a BC game too — BC was terrible and had nothing to play for aside from further ruining ND’s season. The game was close, but BC’s offense was so toothless that it didn’t really matter.
Anyways, point is, BC football is a war crime.
Rees throwing a TD bomb to Will Fuller just doesn’t seem real. How could they have both played at the same time. I know Tommy was around for like 13 years, but still it seems like those were two completely different ND eras. I had to watch the highlights because I didn’t believe it at first. You might as well have said, “That time that Joe Montana threw a touchdown pass to a young Tim Brown.”
I am befuddled. how do these numbers equal the final score in any of the calculations? #88: 2013 Air ForceExcitement: 4
Quality of Opponent: 1
Legacy: 1
Final Score: 2.5/100
The arbitrary and over-complicated formula I use is (Excitement + Quality) x Legacy. Then divide by 2 so we can get a score out of 100. So this would be (4+1) x 1 = 5/2 = 2.5.