Now we’re finally getting somewhere! Some of these games had serious legacy ramifications for the Brian Kelly era and Notre Dame football as a whole. Part One and the bottom tier can be found here, while Part Two is here.

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.

#44: 2012 BYU, 17-14

Excitement: 6

Quality of Opponent: 6

Legacy: 5

Final Score: 30/100

 

This is somewhat of a forgotten game from the 2012 season and one the Irish were very much in danger of losing. Tommy Rees started in place of a concussed Everett Golson and played an uneven game. BYU scored the first two offensive touchdowns against the Irish defense since week two and Kyle Brindza shanked a couple of field goals to make things uncomfortable. But Theo Riddick had his best game in an Irish uniform to date which kept the ND offense within striking distance before George Atkinson III (RIP) ran in the winning touchdown.

#43: 2012 Navy, 50-10

Excitement: 6

Quality of Opponent: 4

Legacy: 6

Final Score: 30/100

 

With the news that Notre Dame won’t play Navy in Ireland this year, the 2012 season opener is the only time we will see a match-up in Dublin anytime soon. This was the perfect season opener as the Irish barely broke a sweat in cruising to victory. Everett Golson was decent in his first start at Notre Dame, but the Irish defense were the real story in forcing four turnovers. The Middies threw the ball an astounding 20 times to avoid getting swallowed up by Te’o and Co, but it was no use on this day.

#42: 2012 Purdue, 20-17

Excitement: 4

Quality of Opponent: 5

Legacy: 7

Final Score: 31.5/100

 

A week after the vacation in Ireland, the Irish almost blew a 12-0 season against 6-7 Purdue. I believe this game has some major legacy ramifications because of Kelly’s gutsy decision to put Tommy Rees in for the final drive. The Irish offense was sluggish all day and Everett Golson had just fumbled the ball while trying to burn clock. Caleb TerBush (I told you we’d come back to him) threw the game-tying touchdown on 4th down to put an Irish victory in doubt. Rees then led the game-winning drive after being booed as he trotted out on the field.

#41: 2015 Pitt, 42-30

Excitement: 7

Quality of Opponent: 6

Legacy: 5

Final Score: 32.5/100

 

Believe it or not, there has been a time in the last decade where Notre Dame comfortably defeated Pitt. The Irish led 21-3 at halftime and kept the Panthers at arms length the rest of the way. Pat Narduzzi stubbornly defended Will Fuller in man coverage the whole game and was punished as such. Were it not for some poor BVG defense and fumble-return touchdown, this would be much higher on this list.

#40: 2018 Pitt, 19-14

Excitement: 5

Quality of Opponent: 6

Legacy: 6

Final Score: 33/100

 

After talking about a game where Notre Dame handily beat Pitt, here’s one where they didn’t. The Irish seemed ripe for an upset after two big wins in a row, and Ian Book’s coming back down to Earth in the first half almost made that happen. Yet Notre Dame’s offense scratched and clawed its way back in the game and finally took the lead on a patented Beautiful Book Bomb to Boykin™. But don’t worry, we’ll get to the more famous Pitt game soon…

#39: 2018 Wake Forest, 56-27

Excitement: 6

Quality of Opponent: 5

Legacy: 6

Final Score: 33/100

 

All eyes were on Ian Book in his first start as the undisputed QB1 and the new Irish signal-caller could not have performed any better. Notre Dame’s new-look offense scored 56 points and tallied 566 yards of offense while Book scored five touchdowns on the day. Wake’s defense completely collapsed in the second half and the Irish rolled in Winston-Salem.

#38: 2019 Iowa State, 33-9

Excitement: 7

Quality of Opponent: 7

Legacy: 5

Final Score: 35/100

 

The most recent game on this list was a bit of a mixed bag, if that’s what you can call a 24-point win over a solid team in a bowl game. Iowa State was much better than their record indicated and never stood a chance against a supposedly hungover Irish team. However, every Notre Dame fan spent this whole game wondering why we couldn’t have been beating up on Florida in the Orange Bowl instead.

#37: 2013 BYU, 23-13

Excitement: 6

Quality of Opponent: 6

Legacy: 6

Final Score: 36/100

 

Maybe the only snow game on this list shows up at number 38. The previous week had seen the infamous Tuitt ejection and a loss to a bad Pitt team, but the Irish came through on Senior Day and beat Taysom Hill, Kyle Van Noy and BYU. It was a bizarre setting considering the Cougars had just played at Notre Dame Stadium the year before, but the result was largely the same. This time, the Irish converted more scoring chances and held the Cougs to a single offensive touchdown.

#36: 2018 Virginia Tech, 45-23

Excitement: 8

Quality of Opponent: 5

Legacy: 6

Final Score: 39/100

 

This seemed like a signature win at the time when the Irish went into Lane Stadium and dominated the Hokies in the second half. However, Virginia Tech finished just 6-7 on the year and were a paper tiger in this match-up. Still, it was quite fun to watch Dexter Williams silence the crowd and shut down the Enter Sandman hysteria.

#35: 2015 Texas, 38-3

Excitement: 9

Quality of Opponent: 4

Legacy: 6

Final Score: 39/100

 

I look at this as the 2018 Florida State game on steroids where Notre Dame dismantled a fellow blueblood. The Irish annihilated the Longhorns who looked completely over-matched and never really improved from that point forward, finishing 5-7. Malik Zaire almost had a perfect night through the air in completing 19 of 22 passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns while Will Fuller had 142 yards and two touchdowns. Texas finished with just 8 first downs and averaged 3.1 ypp in one of the most comprehensive blowouts of the Kelly era.

#34: 2019 Virginia Tech, 21-20

Excitement: 5

Quality of Opponent: 7

Legacy: 7

Final Score: 42/100

 

I can see this being a sneaky important game for Brian Kelly’s legacy down the road. The Irish were teetering after getting blown out at Michigan and tried very hard to lose this game for the first 55 minutes. Despite almost doubling the Hokie’s yardage and holding VT to 3.6 ypp, three turnovers including a face-palm inducing 99-yard USF flashback put the Irish in a hole. With a 15-game home winning streak on the line, Ian Book manufactured a meticulous drive by converting two fourth downs and running in the game-winning touchdown.

#33: 2019 USC, 30-27

Excitement: 6

Quality of Opponent: 8

Legacy: 6

Final Score: 42/100

 

The lowest-ranked USC game on this list comes in at number 34. Notre Dame jumped on the Trojans and led 20-3 in the third quarter before a Kedon Slovis-led comeback nearly eclipsed the Irish in the fourth quarter. Tony Jones Jr. had the best game of his career with 176 yards rushing and Notre Dame needed every last one of them to survive.

#32: 2015 Navy, 41-24

Excitement: 4

Quality of Opponent: 8

Legacy: 7

Final Score: 42/100

 

After a close first half, the Irish pulled away from one of the best Navy teams on the Coach Ken era. This came a week after the Irish helped launch the Clemson dynasty which keeps the Excitement meter down, but this win has aged nicely. The Irish handled a Navy team that would finish 11-2 and mostly contained Keenan Reynolds before he was knocked out of the game in the fourth quarter.

#31: 2012 Miami, 41-3

Excitement: 8

Quality of Opponent: 6

Legacy: 6

Final Score: 42/100

 

This game is notable for the infamous Shamrock Series uniforms, but it was the Canes who were humiliated on this night. The Irish offense racked up 587 yards and 34 first downs while holding Duke Johnson to just 22 yards on eight carries. Both George Atkinson III and Cierre Wood went over 100 yards in a blowout that has been somewhat forgotten through the years.

#30: 2010 Miami, 33-17

Excitement: 8

Quality of Opponent: 6

Legacy: 6

Final Score: 42/100

(Warning: terrible and loud early YouTube highlight music above)

The 2010 Sun Bowl is the second game in this Miami doubleheader. The Hurricanes had just fired Randy Shannon and famously showed up to the game wearing arctic gear. This one was also over in a hurry as the Irish jumped out to a 27-0 lead and simply let the Canes self-destruct to the tune of four first half turnovers. Fun fact: Brian Kelly is the only Notre Dame football coach to win a bowl game in his first season.

#29: 2012 Pitt, 29-26

Excitement: 6

Quality of Opponent: 5

Legacy: 8

Final Score: 44/100

 

Whatever your thoughts on this game, you cannot deny it had major legacy ramifications for the Brian Kelly era. The Irish were super flat coming off the Oklahoma win and played just about the worst game possible. Yet a fourth quarter rally sent the game into overtime where it looked certain that the dream season was about to end after Cierre Wood fumbled at the goal line. The rest is history as Kevin Harper missed the game-winning field goal and Everett Golson grew up before our very eyes.

#28: 2012 Michigan State, 20-3

Excitement: 9

Quality of Opponent: 6

Legacy: 6

Final Score: 45/100

 

Much like the 2015 Georgia Tech win or the 2018 Virginia Tech win, this one is colored by how the opposing team finished (MSU went 7-6). Nonetheless, the Irish beat a top-10 team on the road for the first time since 2005 and did it in dominating fashion. To be fair to Sparty, this was the only game they lost by more than four points and their defense was nasty in 2012, ranking #2 in SP+.

None of that mattered as the Irish defense swallowed Andrew Maxwell and Le’Veon Bell whole and held the Spartans to just 3.3 ypp. Everett Golson and the Irish offense squeezed blood from a rock and did just enough to ensure MSU never threatened.

#27: 2019 Virginia, 35-20

Excitement: 6

Quality of Opponent: 7

Legacy: 7

Final Score: 45.5/100

 

The Excitement was tamped down a bit after a near-miss against Georgia the week before, but the Irish overcame an uneven first half and dominated the Cavs after halftime. The obvious story was eight sacks against Bryce Perkins who couldn’t replicate his first half magic.

#26: 2016 Miami, 30-27

Excitement: 5

Quality of Opponent: 8

Legacy: 7

Final Score: 45.5/100

 

Perhaps a surprising entry, but I can definitively say that the 2016 Miami game is a very good win with the benefit of hindsight. The Irish jumped out to a huge lead and nearly blew it in the most 2016 way possible before recovering in the final minutes. DeShone Kizer had a standout game and helped cover up one of the worst special teams debacles of the Kelly era. Miami would finish 9-4 with three one-possession losses and would rank in the top-15 in both F+/- and SP+.

#25: 2013 USC, 14-10

Excitement: 6

Quality of Opponent: 8

Legacy: 7

Final Score: 49/100


The contest itself featured an exciting first half, but an absolutely brutal second half where neither team scored and the Irish survived a late charge by the Trojans. The Excitement factor was somewhat neutered at the time because of Tommy Rees’ injury and an appalling offensive performance when Andrew Hendrix took over, but this game has aged well. It was Notre Dame’s first home win over USC since 2001 and the Trojans ended up being a damn good team under Ed Orgeron, finishing 10-4 and 10th in SP+.

#24: 2018 Northwestern, 31-21

Excitement: 6

Quality of Opponent: 8

Legacy: 7

Final Score: 49/100

 

This was a grind-it-out kinda night in Evanston. Northwestern was annoying all-game long and the Irish couldn’t pull away from the eventual Big Ten West champs until Ian Book engineered one of the most timely touchdown drives of the Kelly era. Notre Dame almost doubled the Cats’ yardage, but special teams gaffes and weird Ryan Field magic kept the score closer than it should’ve been.

The next tier will be out next week.