The final tier is here. There are a ton of great memories left on this list, but which game will be #1? The previous tiers are below.
- A Win is a Win (Tier Five)
- Oh, I remember that One (Tier Four)
- I’m glad I made Time for That (Tier Three)
- Fond Memories (Tier Two)
Remember that the formula for this 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.
#9: 2014 Michigan, 37-0
Excitement: 10
Quality of Opponent: 4
Legacy: 10
Final Score: 70/100
Maybe the most meme-able game of the Kelly era, where the Irish blanked Brady Hoke’s last Michigan squad in hilarious fashion. At the time we had no idea that this rivalry would be continued in 2018, so this game felt enormous. It felt like a must-win situation, with the rivalry’s pending cancellation and Brian Kelly’s 1-3 record against Michigan to that point. The result was a uproarious shutout against an incompetent opponent.
Unfortunately for the quality rating, the Wolverines sucked in 2014 and Brady Hoke got the ax. Furthermore, all of the archives for this game list the Irish as having finished with 31 points when they clearly finished with 37. For those reasons, this game objectively can’t be much higher in this tier. However, it’s hard to find another bludgeoning that matches the unbridled joy and memorability of this contest. Long live the BVG Fist Pump gif.
#8: 2013 Michigan State, 17-13
Excitement: 4
Quality of Opponent: 10
Legacy: 10
Final Score: 70/100
I see this game is the inverse of the 2014 Michigan contest. Instead of the thrilling, borderline erotic destruction of a bad Michigan team, this game featured a sluggish, boring slog against a great Michigan State squad. The Irish managed a paltry 220 yards against the Spartans’ defense and were only able to move the ball with the help of some timely penalties. This game is a complete mess when judged on pure ascetics and it felt like one of those “bad wins” at the time.
Nobody knew it then, but Michigan State would go on to have its best season in modern times. The Spartans went 13-1, beat 12-0 Ohio State to win the B1G and then won the Rose Bowl. In terms of pure quality, it is the best team Brian Kelly has beaten as head coach of Notre Dame. As such, 2013 Michigan State is the only team that scores a perfect 10 on this list in terms of opponent quality. I wanted to reserve that distinction for teams that were true national title contenders, and ND having to face MSU with their defense and Connor Cook should qualify.
#7: 2017 LSU, 21-17
Excitement: 8
Quality of Opponent: 8
Legacy: 9
Final Score: 72/100
The 2017 season had started to go off the rails after the Miami debacle and Notre Dame limped into bowl season with a suddenly listless offense and a 1-2 record since ranking #3 in the first CFP Playoff ranking. The first half of this contest seemed to symbolize how far the Irish had fallen as the offense sputtered again in rainy conditions. However, Brian Kelly made one of the most consequential decisions of his ND coaching career in going with Ian Book for the second half.
This is the true beginning of the Book ascendancy. The freshman rallied the Irish offense to all 21 points and picked apart one of the best defenses in the country. Meanwhile, Mike Elko’s last ND defense kept the game from getting out of hand before Miles Boykin made one of the defining plays of the Kelly era. Boykin’s unexpected brilliance put the Tigers to bed and gave the Irish a 10-win season.
Maybe BK still goes with Book in 2018, but I like to think that his stellar performance in this game created the conditions necessary for his promotion. Regardless, this game capped off a remarkable comeback season for Kelly and his program. He has become the rare ND coach to fully recover from a bad season and thrive afterwards.
#6: 2018 Syracuse, 36-3
Excitement: 9
Quality of Opponent: 8
Legacy: 9
Final Score: 76.5/100
This was a big boy win for a program that had fully matured and moved past its 2016 failures. All of the pregame talk centered around everything that could go wrong from moving a home game to Yankee Stadium, the obscene 2018 travel schedule, and the ridiculous pinstriped uniforms. In the end, none of it mattered against a Syracuse team enjoying their best season in over a decade. The Irish were never threatened by the Orange and the game was even more lopsided than the final score indicated.
Syracuse in 2018 was a bit fraudulent and utterly hopeless once Eric Dungey was knocked out in the first quarter. Yet, the big picture view of this game is that Notre Dame humiliated a 10-3 team by 33 points after much pregame consternation. As mentioned before, this was a mature win by the Irish and one that firmly established the program as a true contender in 2018.
#5: 2012 USC, 22-13
Excitement: 10
Quality of Opponent: 6
Legacy: 10
Final Score: 80/100
It’s hard to find a more tense, emotion-laden game on this list. Everything was riding on this one contest, with the Irish one win away from the national championship game. In a strange case of role reversal, the Trojans came into this game unranked after having been the preseason #1 team in the country while the Irish were #1 for the first time since 1993.
Looking back, it’s fair to say that Notre Dame was clearly the better team and should’ve won by more. They out-gained the Max Wittek-led Trojans 439-281 and jumped out to a 10-0 lead while holding down Marquis Lee. However, the greatest weakness of the 2012 team reared its head too many times and the Irish had to settle for five red zone field goals. This allowed the Trojans to mount one final effort at the goal line in the fourth quarter, and we all remember what happened next.
The retrospectives on this game are numerous and it is perhaps the greatest night of the 21st century for Notre Dame football. Forget the fact that USC was pretty crappy, or that Matt Barkley wasn’t playing, or that the Irish probably should’ve won comfortably. We all know this night would not have been as memorable if it were easy. In many ways, that’s the joy of the 2012 team which turned these otherwise brutal contests into something truly unforgettable.
#4: 2017 USC, 49-14
Excitement: 9
Quality of Opponent: 9
Legacy: 9
Final Score: 81/100
For so many Irish fans who were around for the Davie/Willingham/Weis years, this game was the ultimate catharsis. The Pete Carroll Trojans beat those Notre Dame teams eight years in a row, with five of those victories coming by 31 points or more. What the 2017 Irish did on this night against a USC team that would win the Pac-12 felt special. The Trojans were never in it on this night as their defense was bowled over to the tune of 377 rushing yards.
It’s hard to write much more about the actual game other than this was maybe the sweetest butt-kicking of Brian Kelly’s tenure at Notre Dame. Sam Darnold was totally impotent while Brandon Wimbush put together a Tony Rice-like performance with 120 yards passing and 106 rushing. Of course, the real fireworks came from Josh Adams and the most punishing ND run game of 2010s. It’s still hard to believe the Irish beat an 11-3 USC team by 35 points.
Despite a 7-3 record against USC, most of Brian Kelly’s wins against the Trojans have been razor-close with four one-possession victories. Of course, Notre Dame is never going to do beat the brakes off their rivals the way Pete Carroll’s teams did in the 2000s (for one, none of these SC teams have been as bad as ND was those years). This game is a shining exception and a beautiful reminder of what Notre Dame football can do on a perfect night.
#3: 2018 Michigan, 24-17
Excitement: 10
Quality of Opponent: 9
Legacy: 9
Final Score: 85.5/100
The 2018 season opener featured a spectacular start against maybe Jim Harbaugh’s best Michigan team. The Irish threatened to blow the Wolverines out after going up 21-3 in the second quarter, but special teams mistakes and an extended offensive funk allowed Michigan back in the game. However, the Irish were never truly in danger on this night while Jerry Tillery and Tevon Coney snuffed out a last gasp effort by the Michigan offense.
After all the Harbaugh hype and a three year hiatus in this rivalry, the Irish simply handled their business in primetime. This was one of the best crowds of the 2010s with the help of College Gameday and a perfect green-out. Most importantly, this win solidified the post-2016 reboot. If the 2017 season was a return to form for Kelly, this win signified that he could take the program even higher. Of course, it always helps that this was against the hated Wolverines.
#2: 2012 Oklahoma, 30-13
Excitement: 10
Quality of Opponent: 8.5
Legacy: 10
Final Score: 92.5/100
Surprise! What is generally considered to be Kelly’s best win at Notre Dame is not at the top of this list. However, this is by far the best road win and one of the only wins of the past 25 years that truly grabbed the nation’s undivided attention. The Irish were double-digit underdogs but had exactly the right DNA for this kind of game. The 2012 team was tremendous at controlling tempo and this contest proved to be their masterpiece. OU finished the year #2 in SP+ offense, but only managed to get in the endzone once and mostly piled up a lot of empty yardage.
Young Everett Golson was a puppet master and the Irish ground game dominated the line of scrimmage. In contrast to the Sooners only managing 25 yards rushing (!!!), the Irish offense showcased perfect balance and rarely fell off schedule. The long, 10+ play drives were punctuated by big plays from the likes of Cierre Wood and Chris Brown which kept the game just out of reach before the dam finally burst in the fourth quarter.
I couldn’t quite figure out what to do with Oklahoma’s resume on the year. On one hand, the eye test suggests this was a team deserving of an score of 8. The Sooners lost to the three best teams on their schedule and were beaten by 17+ in two of those games. Yet, SP+ ranked 2012 OU as the fourth-best team in the country which is the highest-ranked team that Notre Dame has defeated in the SP+ era. Therefore, I made an executive decision and decided to just split the difference and give 2012 OU an 8.5 quality rating.
#1: 2012 Stanford, 20-13
Excitement: 10
Quality of Opponent: 9
Legacy: 10
Final Score: 95/100
This is Brian Kelly’s best win as head coach at Notre Dame. Both teams slugged it out in the pouring rain after College Gameday had wrapped up their first visit to campus since 2005. It was a bruising affair that saw Tommy Rees pull the ultimate emergency spot-duty when Golson was concussed on the final drive of regulation. Only the Pitt game later in the same season rivals the amount of adversity the Irish had to fight through on this day.
It seems that fans forget how truly difficult the overtime session was on both sides of the ball. Rees and Theo Riddick bailed the Irish out of third and long before TJ Jones made a sliding catch for the go-ahead touchdown. Of course, the the goal line stand is the real legacy of this game. The moment Stefan Taylor was stopped short on fourth and goal is perhaps the greatest in-game high of Kelly’s tenure.
The Cardinal finished 12-2 and won the Pac-12, followed by the Rose Bowl. The 2012 Stanford team is perhaps the second-best team Kelly has beaten at Notre Dame. Furthermore, this game represented the first time ND football flashed elite ability under Kelly. Notre Dame beat a top tier program at their own game after two years of the Cardinal manhandling the Irish. In my opinion, this game represents the moment when Notre Dame football truly returned.
Thus ends this marathon project. 10 years of Brian Kelly has provided a long and winding road (understatement!) which still hasn’t reached its conclusion. Feel free to let me know how you feel about this list in the comments and Go Irish!
Wierd…I must have missed the placement of the 2014 FSU game
🙁
That’s in Tier VI “Statue building wins”. So far it’s empty though 😞
I about threw my TV out the window when Clemson won the national championship running the same play we got called for OPI on.
Loved the ND offense in overtime of that Stanford game. If only we could find someone gritty like that to guide the current offense
Being born in 2002 and basically only knowing murder Death Star USC as I grew up the 2017 Trojan Chainsaw Massacre holds an eternally special place in my heart
You missed all the bad stuff, man. At best, you remember 2009, which was at least a competitive loss. It’s been all gravy since then. (Also, I have t-shirts older than you and I don’t think I’m that old….)
For some god forsaken reason I can remember as far back as 07
Started really getting into watching it in 08
2013 MSU will be one of my favorite wins forever, but only because of hindsight. I have always hated MSU, I don’t really know why other than their coaches seem like dicks, and knowing that we kept them out of the National Championship will always bring me a great amount of joy.
Sparty fans shrieking about how their own conference’s refs screwed them over in a game against ND was and is music to my ears.
I love that Kelly was among the first, and perhaps THE first, to figure out Dantonio and Narduzzi’s stupid-ass borderline illegal defense and use it against them.
I’d put OU #1. I recall actually misting up at the end of that game. Beating an indisputable blue blood program in their own house is a rare moment, even if that OU team wasn’t quite the caliber of some other recent ones. That game was definitely a white-knuckler most of the way, as I just kept hoping nothing stupid would happen to screw it up.
But then, the roller-coaster nature of the Stanford game, capped with, as you said, the single most euphoric in-game moment for ND football in not just the Kelly era but possibly the 21st century, makes it a worthy choice as well.
Great project.
At the end of that OU game, I was absolutely convinced that a middle linebacker was going to win the Heisman.
Really enjoyed reading these. And you nailed the top 5. But a blowout win over a basketball school on a baseball field is probably more tier 3 or even 4.
I struggled with that one too, but ultimately I couldn’t look past a huge blowout win over a top-15 opponent. Especially because ND made a Syracuse team that almost beat Clemson look like a JV team.
Big Ten is going to a conference only schedule this year, so if there is a 2020 CFB season, it won’t include a Notre Dame-Wisconsin game.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29435295/source-big-ten-moving-conference-only-model-all-sports-fall
Curious how scheduling agreements/contracts work – will these games just go away, or collectively, does everything get pushed out a year?
These games will just go away I’m sure. There are already scheduled games for the following year. They may try to re-schedule though.
I think we should be seriously concerned ND’s season will be significantly cut short. It would seem likely, if there is a season at all, that other conferences will follow suite. That would leave us with 6 acc games.
BIG 10 cancellations means BC, Va Tech, Miami all have open games. I think it’s been said the ACC is willing to work with ND on this. The logistics have to be a nightmare but I would think ND can fill a schedule with their 6 ACC games, Navy and maybe pickup a few other piece-meal games, possibly from ACC teams needing a dance partner.
…But, I mean, really at this point do we even think ANY fall games are a realistic possibility right now? Cancelling all but in conference games really doesn’t change anything for anyone. We can’t make our own timeline, we’re on the virus’s timeline, as the saying goes.
And while not trying to get political at all (no one needs that!) — the stats speak for themselves. The USA obviously isn’t curtailing the outbreak. It’s only growing bigger each and every day. And given Kelly’s comments, camps nation-wide HAVE to open soon to be on track for a normal fall season start time. That feels impossible to imagine right now, especially geographically in the ACC.
We’ll see what happens, but I’d bet anything that the cancellations and postponements are only going to get worse and not better at this point, given the atmosphere. Sucks for everyone, but I find it hard to believe students will be on campus at all this fall, and tough to have college football without the college part.
Yea I did later see that perhaps the ACC would fill out our schedule which I presume that’s what the big10 is doing. Still having a 12 game schedule but just all conference games.
But agreed, I’m not optimistic about any games in the Fall. I think the NFL will have something because they are a much smaller entity and so more easily contained.
Swarbrick made an announcement yesterday that both teams are committed to rescheduling a Lambeau game, so I guess it will go away.
When this season is inevitably canceled, I’d like to see everything just get punted over a year so we don’t lose games like that one, Ohio State @ Oregon, etc. But I’m guessing that won’t happen.
That’s kind of what I’d like to see, too. Not only for the big games, but also for the teams that need to play an ass-kicking game just for the $$$. Also, seems like it would be the easiest, logistically – except for maybe some of the neutral site games, like ND / Navy in Ireland, but that was already reschedule for @ Navy anyway.
Just awesome getting the opportunity to relive great moments. Really great job putting this together. 2012 was a memorable year for many reasons, and it’s appropriate the top 2 are from that year. Beating Oklahoma in their house on the national stage had my phone blowing up that “You guys are actually for real”, but I agree with Stanford being number 1. That was a roller coaster of emotions that led me back to the “Bush push”, but now we came out on top.
I think 2017 SC is single best ND performance of my football-conscious lifetime (c. 1996-present). That game was over in three drives. Listening to Flutie trying to dredge up some hope for the Trogans was wonderful.
Also, I’d say the Citrus Bowl against LSU was maybe the second most important win of Kelly’s time at ND, next to Utah 2010. That season was headed for an ending that would have destroyed virtually all hope in Kelly’s reboot.
’17 USC might have been the most impressive and fun of them all. Some say Josh Adams is still running to daylight to this day. That was a masterful performance. And they romped NCST the next week (then ranked 14th with a hyped up defense) just the same way with 200+ yards for Adams. Truly a golden moment in time for Q and McGlinchey and the boys up front. Dominating with Wimbush as a non-throwing threat back there really showed how awesome that line was.
To your latter point, I think ’14 Michigan was one of the most “turning point” worthy games, in a sneaky context-driven way. Great to stomp Michigan in any form, no doubt…But that type of emphatic win only bought BVG more time, IMO. (Take that game out, and does he get fired earlier with the rest of his results in 2014 and 2015? I think so!). In the bigger scheme, might have bought Kelly more time too in 2016 to get to reboot and not just get fired if he were to lose that game…Not arguing against the LSU game as a major, clear important game, just think if ND doesn’t beat Michigan in ’14, a LOT would have unfolded differently.
In that scenario, I think he probably would have been fired after the collapse at Stanford in 2015, which is what should have happened anyway. What does that mean for 2016? Hard to say, but I’d guess another dose of 8-4. Perhaps with Kelly just kind of fading into obscurity and “retiring” in 2017 or 2018.
“H e probably would have been fired after the collapse at Stanford in 2015, which is what should have happened anyway”
In that pronoun you mean BVG, right?
If so, who knows if they get Elko+Lea (so perhaps the punishment was ultimately worth the reward)….
I’d like to think Kelly surviving would have meant 2017-present still happens as is. Double digit wins but not elite, elite.
Yes, sorry, BVG getting fired.
I do think the punishment was worth the reward. Whatever you think of ND’s PR machine, I think Kelly is pretty blunt about whatever’s going on in his program, good or bad. So I take him at his word when he says, essentially, that the 2016 Experience forced some much-needed fundamental changes.
My biggest takeaway from watching all these highlights… Doug Flutie is garbage.
Because everyone asked, the 2012 Stanford game is the last one I’ve ever attended.
My grandfather, may he rest in peace, had about two dozen season tickets he’d been stockpiling since the year before Ara.
I went with my fiancé. We met my entire family in the gold seats. My grandparents were meeting my future wife for the first time. Embraces aplenty.
My fiancé disclosed at halftime that, turns out, she hated football. Especially college football. Especially a team with gold helmets that clearly took itself too seriously. She also disclosed a unilateral dislike of all aspects of Catholicism, particularly “money grabs like Catholic college football” (I quote from memory).
We left, at her behest, with two minutes to go (not overtime). We didn’t see a single person as we walked through campus to my secret free parking. At the car, as I unlocked it, I heard 80,000 fans screaming—in laughter—at me.
I have since divorced. My children and I are safe. This article reminds me that God, in his wisdom, has a plan.
A tough one, DutchDomer. Thanks for sharing that pain. Gives me more ammo for my steady inculcation with the kids and my grandson, about never ever leaving ND games early! A bit of a challenge with my French daughter-in-law but we seem to be OK 🙂
To echo others, Golden — a lovely series, and it finishes very well! Thanks!
I’m sorry that happened to you, I always try to remember that some of my best memories might coincide with other people’s most painful experiences. Hopefully we can get college football back soon so you can share ND football with your kids and make some new memories.