Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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54 DEC. 5, 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED F ollowing No. 2-ranked Notre Dame's 45-31 victory against Boston College on Nov. 14, I was slightly caught off guard to see an acknowledgment in the stat sheet produced by the university. In the bullet points of superlatives released by Notre Dame athletics, the first note highlighted that the Fight- ing Irish extended the longest active win streak in the Football Bowl Sub- division to 14 games. The second one, though, I did not anticipate, and it read: "Dick Cor- bett Head Football Coach Brian Kelly notched 100 wins in his Notre Dame career (100-37).^ His 100 wins tie Lou Holtz for second all time in program history in career wins at Notre Dame." There was no typo with the upward arrow after the (100-37), although it did replace the asterisk that was made especially famous with Roger Maris' record-breaking 61* home runs in 1961. It was Major League Baseball's way of saying that Maris achieved his record-breaking feat with a 162-game regular season, and it cannot be truly recognized as the new standard over Babe Ruth's sacrosanct 60 set decades earlier during a 154-game slate. Through nine decades, Notre Dame has had its own sacred or un- touchable record from a 1920s leg- end: Knute Rockne's 105-12-5 record from 1918-30. Not only is it still the most victories by a Notre Dame foot- ball head coach, but the .881 winning percentage remains the best in Foot- ball Bowl Subdivision history. Twenty-four years ago when Holtz stepped down from his post after 11 seasons (1986-96) with a 100-30-2 led- ger, he shared that part of him didn't feel right about eclipsing Rockne's all-time victory mark at Notre Dame. Now, that was hardly reason No. 1 (if any at all) for Holtz leaving his post, but just even bringing the topic up had some wondering whether that was truly a factor. The other reason I was a little sur- prised by the acknowledgment is the NCAA decision that Notre Dame and Kelly's 21 victories from 2012 (12-1) and 2013 (9-4) had to be vacated be- cause of having unknowingly used several ineligible players during those campaigns. Understandably, it is an extremely sore spot for the university, given that nothing was covered up. The school itself voluntarily presented this in- formation to the NCAA and took appropriate measures at the time. Thus, anytime these vacated wins are brought up, it opens new wounds. Fair or unfair, the ^ or * or # or whatever must be included like a scarlet letter in Kelly's record when presented by the school. Still, the University of Notre Dame took the right step in recognizing that indeed there have been 100 on-field wins posted during his 11-year tenure while currently at the overall peak in his performance at Notre Dame. Next up among at least a portion of the fandom will be the matter of whether Kelly is "worthy" to surpass Rockne in the record books. This has nothing to do with dimin- ishing the achievements of the past or implying that it now makes Kelly a "better coach" than Rockne. Back in 1968 when Notre Dame quarterback Terry Hanratty surpassed the legendary George Gipp's all-time total offense standard that had stood for 48 years, he was instructed by leg- endary Notre Dame sports informa- tion director Roger Valdiserri to use the quote, "It's like breaking a piece of my mother's most expensive china," when asked about it by the media. It was a way of acknowledging achievement with humility and respect for what was achieved in the past. Likewise, Kelly had the appropri- ate statement ready about reaching the century mark in victories. "It means I've had a lot of really good players, a lot of really good coaches and … I'm really, really for- tunate to have the longevity here," he said. "That's kind of where you've got to be if you want to still be here at Notre Dame coaching." Joe Montana wasn't suddenly "bet- ter" than Heisman winner John Lu- jack or others from 30 years earlier just because his stats dwarfed theirs — no more than Brady Quinn, Tommy Rees or Ian Book are now suddenly better than Montana or other national title quarterbacks because their cumula- tive stats make the ones from him, Joe Theismann, Tom Clements or Tony Rice look paltry in comparison. Every era has its own level of stan- dards of achievement that must be recognized in its respective time. The record books are often an indication of data accumulation, not necessarily validation of what constitutes who is the greatest. Contrary to what is often stated, some records are and will remain un- breakable, from Ross Browner 's 77 tackles for loss (no one else is beyond 44.5) to Michael Floyd's 271 catches (no one else has more than 181). Rockne's achievements won't be diminished any less just because someone else eclipses his 105 wins. And if 106 would be achieved this year at 14-0, there probably would be few complaints. ✦ For The Record, Every Era Stands On Its Own THE FIFTH QUARTER LOU SOMOGYI Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com Legendary Notre Dame head football coach Knute Rockne posted a record of 105-12-5 from 1918- 30. His winning percentage of .881 is the best in Football Bowl Subdivision history. PHOTO BY JACEY ZEMBAL