Let’s remember some of the good times. Around half of a year has passed since Brian Kelly left a recruiting visit on the west coast and was soon hired by Louisiana State University. He leaves behind a legacy in South Bend that is complicated, let’s agree on that. However, in the grand scheme there were a lot of memorable moments across 12 seasons with the Fighting Irish.
Plenty of people didn’t like Brian Kelly, even from the beginning. Actually, maybe before that. There’s seemingly a million apocryphal stories out there of people tuning into a soon-to-be 12-0 Cincinnati team facing Pittsburgh in the regular season finale and just knowing they didn’t like this guy and it wasn’t going to work out at Notre Dame.
Today’s article is sort of a look back at Kelly’s best wins, but not really just that in totality. Think of it more in the sense of “When did Brian Kelly’s haters shut up the most during his tenure?” Or, when did the fans come together the most and were at their highest satisfaction levels? When were the highest approval ratings?
Here’s my ranking system:
Importance/Impact: 5 Points
Enjoyment: 3 Points
Hindsight: 2 Points
We’ll give out a maximum of 5 points for the most important games and bigger moments that had more of a lasting legacy for the program. Additionally, 3 points can be given out for the event’s enjoyment level and a maximum of 2 more points now that we can look back and see how time has treated the moment.
#10 2014 Florida State (31-27 Loss)
4.4/0.9/0.4 = 5.7 Points
The only loss to make the list, or should we say “loss?” This was an extremely fun back and forth game between a pair of top 5 teams in primetime on ESPN. Florida State was defending National Champions and came into this matchup on a 22-game winning streak. The Irish played really well and went toe to toe with the Seminoles in Tallahassee.
Never underestimate the power of feeling robbed. There were some Irish fans trying to take the high road and not complain about the refs but most of us felt completely scorned by a ridiculous penalty to take away a game-winning touchdown. The season would soon fall apart after this game. However, in the aftermath we saw a really united fan base.
#9 2012 Michigan (13-6 Win)
3.3/2.1/0.4 = 5.8 Points
Notre Dame had never lost 3 in a row to Michigan in the modern era until 2009-11 came along and dumped some of the most maddening and absurd losses in school history on us. No matter how 2012 played out, any victory over Michigan probably would’ve still made our list. For sure, this game was pretty ugly, especially offensively for Notre Dame, and we saw plenty of complaining about Everett Golson’s struggles.
This was still early in the season and we weren’t sure what each team really had overall. Michigan had opened the season by being blown out by Alabama and would ultimately finish 8-5. Looking back, this win felt positively great but this wasn’t a very good opponent as the Denard Robinson era started to crumble in Ann Arbor.
#8 2010 USC (20-16 Win)
3.1/2.3/0.5 = 5.9 Points
Exhale! At the time, this win felt therapeutic just to get the monkey off the back from the indignity of 8 straight losses to USC. The rumbling, bumbling, stumbling Robert Hughes go-ahead touchdown in the misty weather with Irish fans going crazy inside the Coliseum was about euphoric as the first 2 seasons of Brian Kelly would get. To be capped off by a Harrison Smith game-sealing interception on the next series was pure delight.
There was still plenty of discontent with the Navy/Tulsa debacles only a month earlier and enough Irish fans pointing out Matt Barkley didn’t play in this game. Still, this was the zenith of a much-needed fun 4-0 run to end the season and would be followed up with a giddy bowl win over Miami in El Paso.
#7 2014 Michigan (37-0 Win)
2.8/2.9/0.5 = 6.2 Points
If we’re judging things by the amount of sheer cackling and laughter among Notre Dame fans then this would be your number one offering for today’s list. What else is there to say? This was a highlight of a 6-0 start to the season and in another timeline was supposed to be the final statement in the history of the series. Alas, it was not meant to be but we do have one more Michigan offering today thanks to that decision.
As mentioned, we know how the 2014 season ended. At the time, this was a savory win over Michigan in an important early-season run. It did not end that way, plus Michigan lost 6 out of their remaining 10 games as the Brady Hoke era came to an end that December. They were pretty terrible.
#6 2017 USC (49-14 Win)
3.7/2.6/0.6 = 6.9 Points
Our 2nd offering from USC is in the pantheon of Notre Dame night games. Hurting its ranking on our list was the close loss to Georgia earlier in the season with the playoff outlook looking a little bit wobbly by late October. Plus, we know *that* game down in Hard Rock Stadium happened 3 weeks later. However, this was the peak of ’33 Trucking’ and during a stretch when Notre Dame briefly resembled the best of the Lou Holtz teams, especially offensively and in the run game.
USC was good too, so there couldn’t be complaining about that. The Trojans lost a close road game in Pullman (it happens to the best of us) and were defeated in their bowl game to Ohio State. This was one of only 11 wins in the USC series by at least 25 points and the biggest blowout against the Trojans since 1966.
#5 2012 USC (22-13 Win)
4.3/2.1/0.7 = 7.1 Points
Yet again USC make an appearance on our list. This Trojans team wasn’t very good (they’d finish 7-6 and were coming directly off a 10-point loss to UCLA) but all the pressure was on Notre Dame to remain undefeated and clinch a spot in the BCS National Championship Game. I personally rather enjoy the score bug in this game with Notre Dame ranked No. 1 in the country and USC unranked.
Of course, Notre Dame may have had ‘better’ teams in the following years of the Kelly era. However, this was the end of a 3-month long high approval rating that saw the Irish clinch an uNDefeated regular season for the first time in almost a quarter century. It felt damn good, but within a month things went haywire.
#4 2018 Michigan (24-17 Win)
4.1/2.2/1.6 = 7.9 Points
The series that was supposed to end came back and brought us this 2018 opener under the lights. I still have dreams about Chris Finke soaring through the air like a majestic eagle providing us with one of the most disrespectful “You got Mossed” touchdowns in Notre Dame history. Those who were watching know, this game was not as close as the score indicated.
This was also pound-for-pound the toughest game of the regular season and would look awfully nice once Michigan won their next 10 games. Notre Dame would go on to finish the season undefeated until the playoffs while the Wolverines would get plastered by both Ohio State and then Florida to finish 2018.
#3 2020 Clemson (47-40 Win OT)
4.7/2.5/0.8 = 8.0 Points
Defeating the No. 1 team in the country is a pretty big deal. This was only the 9th time in school history that Notre Dame beat a No. 1 team at the time of kickoff. Clemson came into South Bend as 5.5-point favorites having won 36 out of their last 37 games, with the 2019 National Championship Game against LSU as their lone loss. Early on, Kyren Williams stamped his mark in history with a long touchdown and we were off on a wild overtime journey and perhaps the best field storming in school history.
With a better hindsight grade this had a chance to be the best approval rating of the Kelly era and maybe if we’re limiting things to a smaller window of time it would be the top spot. However, 6 weeks later a healthier Clemson soundly defeated the Irish and it was followed up by another tough loss to a superior Alabama team in the playoffs.
#2 2012 Stanford (20-13 Win OT)
4.8/2.7/1.6 = 9.1 Points
Our 3rd game from the 2012 season comes in at No. 2 for approval rating. Although Stanford was just No. 17 in the country on this overcast mid-October date with a loss at Washington just a few weeks prior, this game nonetheless comes in as the highest approval rating for a home game during the Kelly era. The goal line stand in overtime with the walk-off referee review for the win is so damn good the highlight video runs with that first before showing the rest of the game.
This win was great in hindsight. It kept the undefeated regular season alive, of course. This was also peak David Shaw era at Stanford and they’d go on to win their next 13 games (and 19 out of their next 22 games) with a victory in the Rose Bowl. It was also 1 of 3 games (2020 Clemson above being one of the others) that Kelly won against a team that finished in the top 10.
#1 2012 Oklahoma (30-13 Win)
4.9/2.8/1.6 = 9.3 Points
This is a good example of a game that isn’t necessarily the best win (although some may argue it would be) but is the unquestioned highest approval rating for Brian Kelly. Afterword, haters from within and outside of the Notre Dame fan base were as quiet as I’ve ever seen them since the early 1990’s. From inside the fan base and across the country this was as impressive of a win as you’ll find and one of those moments when people would say, “Notre Dame is for real now.”
If there are nits to be picked this wasn’t quite a super great Oklahoma team–which maybe keeps it off the top spot purely from a best win standpoint. The Sooners would win their next 5 games and finish as co-champions of the Big 12 only to be taken apart by the Johnny Manziel Heisman-winning season Aggies by 28 points.
2012 was such a great year. My GF, now wife, watched every game with me. It made every game that much better. Teo was so fun to watch! And for that matter the whole defense. Everett Golson was so good when we was on and so frustrating when he was off.
We debated bringing in off-field topics, especially recruiting, for extra approval rating peaks. But, we kept it just for games.
Any off-field submissions worth considering?
We thought the quick re-flipping of Stephon Tuitt was way up there.
Yeah the entire end of the 2010 recruiting cycle, coming off the 4-0 finish, flipping tuitt, getting lunch as EE, landing ishaq with diaco putting in work. arhat offseason was quite a high. Unfortunately for BK, not many other recruiting highs. Maybe landing jaylon and then that post 2012 season recruiting landing red field, greg bryant and eddie v for a moment .
The days when they used to recruit pretty hard!
Any discussion regarding 2010 Utah? I think that game is at least top 10 worthy, and possibly top 3, based on the previous week, the tumultuous insanity around Kelly and the program at that point, the pure pessimism. It feels like that win falls through the cracks of time, but I remember it now as being a massive win to stabilize the situation.
I struggle with that one only because it came a bye week after maybe the absolute lowest approval rating(s) for Kelly in his entire tenure. But, I would concede there’s a way to score that Utah game in a way that would make this list.
2.5/2.0/2.0?
It should be high up there. I think that win, without exaggeration, saved Brian Kelly’s career.
It is probably the biggest increase in rating, but nowhere near the highest ratings. It might have shut up the haters, but the approval rating wasn’t exactly high, it just wasn’t 0 (or negative) anymore.
Hey, there’s at least one writer here who’s on record as agreeing!
https://18stripes.com/the-case-for-utah-as-the-most-important-nd-game-of-the-decade/
That said, no chance of a top-10 approval rating for Kelly at the time. It definitely saved his career, but if we’re talking strictly at the time it didn’t come close to fully washing the bad taste of the previous month out of our mouths.
I’m probably falling hard for recency bias, but ponying up big boy money to snatch Freeman away from an SEC power is the biggest off-field move I can recall
Ohhhh, that’s a great one.
I agree with 2012 Oklahoma from an emotional/feelgood perspective. That game was magic. ND’s first big night win on the road in seemingly forever, Musburger on the call (and openly doubting Diaco’s rope-a-dope strategy early in the game), the huge bomb to break the game open, Manti’s performance…just everything went exactly right, and it was awesome.
Personally, my top 5 “approval rating” wins would be:
1. 2012 Oklahoma
2. 2017 Southern Cal
3. 2014 Michigan
4. 2010 Southern Cal
5. 2012 Stanford
I was at OU and 37-0. Couldn’t agree more that those should be on this list and feel so lucky to have been at #1.
The five greatest moments in my ND football experience (since roughly 2003) were:
5. My senior day we beat the crap out of Army. My ND jersey was a generic #30 that I got while in HS and was Mike Richardson’s number while I was there. Somehow Mikey Rich had 2 picks that day, and my friends lifted me on their shoulders after the second one. We had won the ticket lottery that year and sat in the first row behind the gold seats (literally behind Frank Eck who introduced us to many celebrities over the season). The whole team could see me and were laughing and pointing and trying to get Richardson to look at the fact someone actually had his jersey. Sadly he refused to turn around and look. That would have bumped this up another couple spots.
4. The pick six at the end of 37-0 and watching Gardner get absolutely flattened.
3. Walking to my seat at the BCSNCG.
2. Brown’s catch at OU.
1. When the clock hit 0 before the Bush push.
Sadly the hindsight scores for 3 and 1 were pretty devastating.
I’ll submit that 2017 USC got did a little dirty on the enjoyment scale, as it was the most enjoyable game I’ve ever been to. The atmosphere for the night game with the winner moving into the top ten was awesome. Everything worked, the Coney forced fumble + recovery on the first drive, the Nick Watkins dagger INT where the Irish went up 4 TDs on the subsequent drive, the domination in the trenches. It was just the best game ever.
I’d happily give 2014 Michigan second best game I’ve ever been to, but 2017 USC was awesome.
FTR the two least enjoyable games I’ve ever been to were 2014 Northwestern, which was probably the worst I’ve ever felt from watching a football game, and 2019 Michigan, which had no enjoyable components to it, from the rain to the opposing fans to the game.
Speaking of approval ratings, CJ Carr set to commit this Thursday night.
https://twitter.com/18stripes/status/1533879890306539522?s=20&t=YsLW9Urj_bjVr_5qWI3BSQ
Michigan recruitniks’ phycological well being is really on the line with this one.
Any chance this would impact Moore’s decision?
A reply to this could frankly be its own post. The short answer, mostly because Moore has been so tight-lipped this whole time, is that we don’t know.
Makes sense.
Well assuming Buchner becomes a legit starting QB but not an elite, leaving early type QB, he could start for 3 years.
The QB battle would take place for the Fall 2025
Moore would have completed two years at ND with 3 years of eligibility remaining. I would presume that he may get some legit time as a backup QB given T.B.’s injury history.
Carr would have completed one year at ND with 4 years of eligibility remaining.
Gotta love Carr’s not caring if they bring in a 5* ahead of him. I don’t know where else Moore has as his “favorites” but the top schools continually bring in 5 stars at QB back to back. And I also think in this new era of the transfer portal, it’s easier than ever to go to the school you want now and if it doesn’t work out go to the school that will work then.
If Freeman/Rees pull in two 5 star QBs in the same month (or at least the same summer), at least two things will happen:
(1) All Rees doubters will shut up. (And we’ll be wondering if we can sign Rees to a big extension and keep him around longer than he should be, so to speak, like Clemson has done with their top assistants. I hope Rees would get a chance to actually coaches these kids.)
(2) Everyone will be talking even more about how bright ND’s future is with Freeman. (It’s hard not to think if a few things go the right way, that 2024 wouldn’t turn in to a top 1-2 class, instead of top 4-5 for 2023.)
Hell, if we sign just ONE of these QBs, I’ll be sold on Rees and Freeman as offensive recruiters. Obviously said QBs still need to be developed once they get (and remain) on campus, and the next couple years at that position may be rough, but this would be a huge first step.
You really can’t overstate what a slap in the face to Michigan signing Carr would be. Here’s hoping.
But the development part is also why the multiple top 50 type QB’s are necessary. It doesn’t always work out – even through no-fault of the coaches.
So one would think that if we got two 5 star QBs, that at least one of them would become the starter and probably turn into a top 10 QB in college in a given season (at least once before leaving) and potentially be a relatively high draft pick (1st/2nd round).
I don’t follow recruiting enough to be in the loop, so forgive me if this is a dumb stupid question. Would it rankle Michigan fans just because he’s an in-stater and one of their priorities,or, given the last name and being from Michigan, any relation to Maurice?
Not a dumb question. He’s Lloyd Carr’s grandson, his dad played at Michigan, and he grew up near Ann Arbor. So a kid who’s been inundated with
MaizeNeon Yellow and Blue propaganda from birth committing to ND to play for an Ohio State alum is pretty embarrassing to Michigan.Plus, Michigan fans are frustrated and worried that Freeman is eating their lunch in Midwest recruiting. They think ND is way ahead of Michigan on NIL, and that Harbaugh’s fling with the Vikings this winter really hurt his credibility.
If this happens, Buchner needs to be Kelly Bryant/Jalen Hurts and not play indefinitely, with Moore/Carr being in the Tua/Trevor role of the talented upstart. There’s no scenario in the world where 5-star QBs sit on the bench for 1-2 years and just watch. Those guys move to their next school a lot quicker if the team doesn’t play them.
If QB recruiting increases, can’t have Buchner be not elite but still start for 3 whole seasons anyways, hoping he puts something together. Either he should be good enough to go to the NFL (or transfer) for 2024 or Notre Dame should move on and try the next one out.
This should happen really as early as the 2023 season, if Moore does commit to ND he should be seeing the field at some point as a freshman, unless Buchner is playing near an All-American level next season. QB decisions are going to get a lot more cut throat if the talent level goes up.
So, given Buchner’s injury history, I think it’s likely Moore will get some serious PT at some point.
But I guess I think it’s possible for something in between of what you are talking about – somewhere like really really good college player but not elite NFL talent. So it would be tough for a really really good college player to get passed up even if the guy behind him has more potential but the guy might not have the tools to be an elite NFL guy (not sure what Buchner’s status is concerning NFL tools).
I agree that Moore might get impatient and transfer. But I’d have to look around and see how many 5 stars have waited until their 3rd year to play.
But with Carr in tow too (presumably) – that’s just how things might work out. Cutthroat indeed.
If Buchner isn’t “winning playoff games caliber” by mid-2023 (assuming Moore signs or Carr reclassifies), he just is not playing for very long.
Even if he’s “really, really good”. Jalen Hurts was really really good (a second round pick! and a legit NFL starter!) — didn’t matter if the offense sputters and the backup might be better.
If Notre Dame is bringing in 5-star QB, those guys historically have a really decent chance of being 1st round talents. Those players are going to see the field, and typically very soon.
The “veteran solid game manager” college football QB is gone, at least among playoff teams. Seems odd to say in the aftermath of Stetson Bennett being a living breathing exception to the rule, but that only applies when there’s no one else better to try. If Arch Manning was class of 2021 and was on UGA last season, he would have taken over by mid-season.
That’s true. Jalen Hurts is a good example – even as one who has become a starter in the NFL.
This assumes I suppose that the 5 star pans out. So the scenario you mention could happen but it requires the 5 star to be legit (which I suppose is very likely). But there do seem to be 5 stars or borderline 5 stars (top 50 guys) who might not have played behind really really good QBs (but not NFL elite type QBs). I’m thinking of JT Daniels, Jayden Daniels, Bo Nix.
Also wonder what will happen with JJ McCarthy and Vandagriff at Georgia this year. Neither seem quite in line to be starters for their 2nd year but are 5 stars. Though I realize McCarthy has gotten some serious PT already. I suppose it seems like if they have a serious chance to be a starter they won’t transfer. And with the transfer rule it doesn’t seem to benefit them to transfer until the season is over. But in both cases, even if they don’t win the job outright this year, they’d be in the front of the line for next year. This could be where Moore/Buchner are in a couple of years – keeping both of them.
Looking again real quick, it does seem like 5 star QBs play early. I’d be curious whether that’s still true of top 50, 75 type QBs.
For teams that get multiple 5 stars in a row, I bet it just works out that there are more transfers from them. But you still need to bring in the talent and you get the better one to play for you and the worse one plays for someone else.
More recent info indicates it’s either/or rather than the possibility of both. Pretty disappointing – other top schools are landing those two level QBs back-to-back.
Assuming Carr commits, I think it’s still fair to say QB recruiting under Rees would be pretty subpar if it means we don’t get Moore.
I’m as hard on Rees as anyone, but even I think this is too harsh. Rees signing a 5-star QB who was expected to automatically go to Michigan, right on the heels of Michigan’s best season in a decade, is impressive. Would I prefer to have two 5-star QBs as opposed to one? Of course. But signing Carr, on its own, is exactly the tangible, objective improvement in recruiting we were promised and have been waiting to see on offense. Assuming this happens, it is a big first step.
Rees has a lot of work to do before either Carr or Moore even get to ND. We’ll have plenty of time to judge him on that.
We’re kind of talking about two different things here. Carr is an excellent pull and it’s absolutely hilarious given who he is. Still, over a six-year window that is one low-5/high-4 star QB (depending where you look), one high-4 star QB, and the rest are either three-stars or low-4 stars who probably should have been 3-stars. For a program that has top-5ish aspirations, “subpar” might be a generous description of that.
If Moore were in this class, it would immediately vault it to “good to very good”. But without him we’re in the “mediocre to subpar” range overall still, all things considered.
I agree with you about Rees’s recruiting to this point, i.e., his recruiting under Kelly. That was subpar, and if that continues to be the norm, with Carr being the exception, then that’s not good enough.
But improvement has to start somewhere. Carr signing is obvious improvement, even if that means Moore goes elsewhere (which, by the way, I was once told is effectively impossible and ridiculously negative to even consider).
I know we don’t have much data about the latter, but Rees recruiting under Kelly = sub-par, Rees recruiting under Freeman already seems a giant step up.
I’ll still be surprised if we lead for Moore the whole time and only don’t get him because a 5 star in the class behind him commits. But you may know more about Moore than I certainly do.
Wow, that’s pretty amazing and if he really does commit to ND, it could set up another amazing class in 2024 – esp. with elite WRs.
Given the context of the season overall the 2010 USC game is appropriately ranked in a “BK approval ratings” ranking, but I felt happier as a result of that game more than any game other than 2012 USC.
Slightly off topic, but it was mentioned in the Clemson write up, so here goes.
Kyren’s touchdown run where he makes on guy miss without breaking stride and then outruns everybody makes me wonder if anybody is measuring game speed?
Baseball (long time Cardinal fan here) loves to measure sprint speed around the bases, pop time of catchers, outfielder’s jump and trajectory to a fly ball, etc.. All of this is game time stuff, not just a 40 yard dash with no pads/cleats/etc.
So I wonder with all the money in college football why we don’t know what wideout has the fastest top speed in pads, with a football? Or more to the point, does a guy like Kyren have better game speed than testing speed?
Teams are definitely measuring this, using things like GPS and accelerometers in the pads to track speed during drills, top speed during practice, and distance traveled, and they have this information for the games too.
Of course most teams, and ND as much or more than most, hold all that information pretty close to the chest. Notre Dame won’t even let fans see the All 22 camera footage of home games, they’re not going to share exact top speeds and workload data with the public.
I do understand, however, that they put together an information packet for NFL teams for players entering the draft, so the NFL does have some of this information, but it’s not necessarily easily comparable to data from other schools.
I’ll restate, at risk of Eric somehow hooking OldTakesExposed up to the comment section, that I believe the NFL majorly screwed up the evals of Williams and Hamilton. Williams might lack some straight-line speed, but it’s more than made up for by literally everything else in his game that borders on elite among the drafted RBs this year. RBs border on disposable to NFL teams, but Williams is Good At Football ™ and is going to sign a second contract worth 8 figures, a major out-perform a 5th round RB who average less than 3 years in the League.
Teams are drafting FBs still???
Apparently about 1.4 of them per year, but none in the first three rounds, haha.
Here’s the article that chart came from: https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2022-04-21/nfl-draft-picks-career-games-played-average-position
I’ve been wondering for a while if Moore just might be waiting until mid-Oct or so to see how Buchner looks. Perhaps he doesn’t want to wait at all for playing time. It might not be the case at all but, certainly it looks like, he hasn’t been as wowed by ND as Carr has been.
I haven’t heard anything about this – but this seems more reasonable to me than worrying about Carr behind him. Though I’m not sure what Moore would be looking at. Is he hoping to start 1st year at any campus? Tough to do at an elite school. Or he is hoping Buchner is amazing and will leave for the NFL early?
Buchner can’t until after 2023 at the earliest, at least for the NFL. I guess if he plays average or poorly the staff could encourage him to transfer. But it that’s the case I don’t think that stops Moore from coming.
Yeah, I agree. I don’t see why Buchner’s 2022 performance would matter at all for Moore’s decision, regardless of whether it’s good, average or bad QB play from Buchner.
(How Freeman performs as a first time HC or what the offense looks like post-Kelly, however, surely will be of interest to Moore. But I’d imagine it would be a positive for Notre Dame in landing Moore if Buchner is great and ND is winning games and Freeman/Rees look good. If the offense is a mess and the team is out the gates slowly and Freeman is shaky with game day decisions, those negative factors are not a going to help to land an elite QB).
Yea I’m not saying it’s something I think he’s looking for. But since someone suggested it I was trying to think about what the rationale would be.
“Yeah, I agree. I don’t see why Buchner’s 2022 performance would matter at all for Moore’s decision, regardless of whether it’s good, average or bad QB play from Buchner.”
Not at all ? In any way ? Pffft.
Would lean a lot more to the “It might not be the case at all”
Right but if Buchner left early, Moore would only sit for a year – which I think is relatively normal even for most of the elite QBs.
Good stuff. My main critique here is that the “hindsight” shouldn’t really be used to measure approval rating. I guess my thought is that approval rating is an instantaneous measure at a point in time. When they measure presidential approval, people can’t say “I like so and so because of how well he handled the thing that hasn’t happened yet.”
I was 100% more pumped after USC 2012 than OU 2012. Both were great and meaningful to the season, but I still wondered how many dumb games he would lose later in the season because that’s what ND coaches did after getting our hopes up. During OU, we showed we could beat ELITE teams, but when the clocked ticked down on USC Kelly had proven we were an ELITE team.
I’d have put USC 2012 and Clemson 2020 as 1 and 2, since the mojo off of those big games meant more because they were later in the season. OU, while a great game, and ultimately critical to Kelly becoming a success, lacks context without the follow up wins throughout the season, including a huge one at USC.
If we are using hindsight, then his highest approval rating was after he announced he was leaving ND because he is a traitor and dead to me.
I’m curious about this view of Kelly. What makes him a traitor?
The combination of the misleading things he told the fans to retain support while he was at ND, plus the anti-ND often BS he’s been spreading since he left has certainly long since exhausted the supply of goodwill he had with me.
Kelly talked repeatedly about how ND was his last job, how he was retiring a Domer. He said these things late into 2021 well past when he knew they were no longer true.
While he was at ND he repeatedly talked about challenging for a National Championship, since leaving he’s made it clear that he doesn’t think NCs can be won at ND.
Since leaving he’s repeatedly badmouthed both the facilities and staffing at ND, even though in the last decade ND spent $400, ended up closer to $425, million on stadium (2013 to 2017) upgrades and built a $40 million Athletic Center (2017 to 2019) that was built specifically to his and the football team’s specifications, and has another major athletic expansion project in the planning stage in Gug expansion.
Regarding staff he’s repeatedly, publicly, called Notre Dame out for not having a nutrition program while simultaneously celebrating that he was able to poach Director of Sports Nutrition Matt Frakes from Notre Dame and no one in the national media can put those two things together.
Kelly was paid handsomely to do a job, estimated $60 to $70 million over 12 years, and $8.5 in 2021, and while things improved under his tenure he didn’t finish the job. I don’t begrudge him his money, but you don’t accrue both generational wealth ~and~ a life debt from Irish fans for kind of doing a pretty decent job.
Good riddance, BK, and LFG, HCMF.
It’s a hindsight approval rating 🙂
In a strict sense, you’re right about approval rating. I think 2012 was a special case just because of how rare it was up to that point. USC 2012 meant a lot more so because we survived and didn’t lose, but I don’t think people finally thought we were elite for specifically beating a mediocre Trojans team. The same goes for USC 2018 which was a similar situation and doesn’t really get brought up at all.
A lot of these seem like “most fulfilling and/or exciting wins”. Even in the really good moments and big wins, there was usually a somewhat fresh controversy or memories of bad seasons/off field controversies/NFL flirtations to bring down his approval rating among some people.
My thinking is more that Kelly’s “highest approval” could well have been the last time he walked off the field at Stanford in November. A blowout win over a “rival”, out-gained them almost by a 3-to-1 ratio to cap a 11-1 season that had plenty of easy wins down the stretch.
A lot of 2021 to that point felt like a victory lap for Kelly in a sense — it was a year where he surpassed Rockne in ND wins and was kinda sorta seeming to embrace and be embraced by (almost) everyone. Ian Book and a great o-line were gone, but the winning remained and Kelly was lauded near and far for the stability he provided and overall success/excellence in the covid era.
Aside from general malaise of the same guy having a long tenure that always lost the big game and the “boredom” of just how efficient and predictable his (winning) program had become, I don’t see how there could be a very low poll approval rating right at the very end…Kinda like a groundswell for what Kelly 2017-21 had built up over the years in his “2.0” phase with the five straight 10+ win seasons with little fresh controversy or negative feelings (I believe the only recent controversial thing up until Nov 2021 was the botched “execution” joke after FSU, which seemed like it offended/made waves more nationally than within the fanbase/school).
Thinking about it in this context also makes it hilariously ironic, being as he completely destroyed all that good will and feelings so soon after this moment by taking a better contract while the team’s season outcome* was still to be decided when he bolted.
(*playoffs being a legit, though outside possibility)
What’s going on with the OL recruiting if we are still in the lead for a couple of elite tackle prospects and just took a 3 star guard and seem to be taking a 3 star tackle soon too? Does HH expect some additional transfers that we really might take 6(!?!?) OL?