The Winningest Loser In Notre Dame History

Brian Kelly passed the great Knute Rockne in all time wins in Notre Dame school history. Brian Kelly acquired 113 wins in his 12 seasons at Notre Dame to Knute Rockne’s 105 wins in his 13 seasons. Well as inspirational speaker Matt Foley would say, “We-e-e-elll.. la-de-freakin’-da!”.

But who did Kelly beat in those 113 wins? Or more importantly who couldn’t he beat in the 40 games he lost? By the way, Knute Rockne only lost 12 times and had 5 ties, so he only didn’t win 17 games in 13 seasons.

The following is a list of Brain Kelly’s “accomplishments”, while serving as Notre Dame’s head football coach over the last 12 seasons.

Record vs Top 10 Opponents

4-11

Record vs Top 5 Opponents

1-7

Record vs Key Opponents

Alabama Crimson Tide: 0-2

Kelly got stomped by Nick Saban twice on the big stage. Once in the BCS National Championship Game and again in the first round of the College Football Playoffs.

Clemson Tigers: 1-3

Kelly’s only win against Clemson came in double OT against Clemson’s second string QB. In the same year against the starting QB, Trevor Lawrence, they were blown out in the ACC Championship Game, 34-10.

Ohio State Buckeyes: 0-1

The only time these two teams played under Brian Kelly they were blown out 44-28, led by the coach they should have hired, Urban Meyer. Seems like being blown out while coaching at Notre Dame was Brian Kelly’s M.O.

Georgia Bulldogs: 0-2

Thanks to Brian Kelly he helped make Georgia the team they are today. Kirby Smart has to be a very happy camper to see Kelly joining the SEC. Kirby is undefeated against Kelly.

Oklahoma Sooners: 1-1

Kelly split the series against Oklahoma when Bob Stoops was the head coach. He’s lucky he never had to play them while Lincoln Riley was at the helm.

Florida State Seminoles: 3-2

Kelly had to wait for Jimbo Fisher to leave Florida State for Texas A&M, before he could actually beat Florida State. All 3 wins were against a “Jimbo-less” Seminoles team. And have you seen Florida State lately? Just awful, plain awful.

Stanford Cardinal: 5-6

Stanford isn’t what anyone would call a legit contender, so why couldn’t Kelly beat them more than he lost to them? Well, whoever the “Stanford” of the SEC is, get ready to make LSU your favorite opponent next year.

USC Trojans: 8-3

Congrats Brian Kelly, you had a winning record against a USC program that has been in shambles since Pete Carroll left them on death row and took off for the Seattle Seahawks. Also, how convenient it is for Brian Kelly to leave right as USC hires Lincoln Riley. Maybe, that’s why he abandoned the team? Too much heat for Kelly to handle?

Miami Hurricanes: 3-1

The Miami Hurricanes are a dumpster fire and the fact that Kelly didn’t go 4-0 vs them is all you need to know. By the way, the one loss was when the #3 Irish went down to #7 Miami and had a brick thrown at their bus and got pummeled, 41-8.

Texas Longhorns: 1-1

Texas hasn’t been relevant since the days of Mack Brown. Somehow, Kelly found a way to almost make a 5-7 Longhorns team coached by Charlie Strong relevant again.

LSU Tigers: 2-0

Brian Kelly did a good job vs LSU, beating Les Miles once and Ed Orgeron once. And now he’s joining LSU. You know how the saying goes, “if you can beat em, join em”, wait that’s not it, is it?

Michigan Wolverines: 3-4

• 0-1 vs Rich Rodriguez
• 2-2 vs Brady Hoke
• 1-1 vs Jim Harbaugh

Do I need to say more?

Michigan State Spartans: 4-2

Kelly had a pretty solid record vs Michigan State, I’ll give him that. But, doesn’t Michigan call themselves Michigan State’s big brother because they beat them just about every year? I guess during Brian Kelly’s time at Notre Dame that made Notre Dame the middle brother? Couldn’t beat Michigan, but could beat Michigan State.

Also, Brian Kelly some how lost to Navy twice. How does that even happen? It’s freakin’ Navy.

Bowl Game Record

5-5

At least old Brian Kelly was able to beat Miami, Rutgers, Iowa State and LSU twice. But, he couldn’t even make it a game against Alabama, Clemson, or Ohio State.

Playoff Record

0-2

Not only did Notre Dame lose both playoff games under Kelly, they got blown out.

National Championships

0

Going into the BCS National Championship Game the Irish were the number 1 seed, but were considered to be the underdogs. I guess Vegas was right, because the scoreboard showed that Notre Dame didn’t even belong on the same field as Alabama, losing 42-14.

Good luck LSU, you got yourself a “great” one in Brian Kelly. I hope you like getting blown out and not winning anything that actually matters. At least he was good at beating the Tigers, but don’t worry he’ll continue to be good at that. Geaux Tigers!