UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE
F
ormer Florida State front man
Bobby Bowden probably summed
up the life of a high-level college
football coach best.
"A big game is never one you win,"
he said. "It's always one you lose. If you
won the dang thing, well, it wasn't big
enough."
Given the insatiable expectations of
football fans, and because so many mov-
ing parts define what a big win actually
means, quantifying epic or signatures
victories is guesswork at best.
But if we use ranked opponents as the
benchmark, Irish head coach Brian Kelly
isn't holding up so well.
Since defeating four ranked teams
during an undefeated regular season
in 2012, Kelly and his Irish are only 3-7
against top-25 opponents in the 10 tries
since. And during his five-plus seasons
coaching in South Bend, Kelly enters
this weekend 9-10 against ranked oppo-
nents — not exactly the stuff of legends.
The upset loss by USC to Washington
Oct. 8 cost Notre Dame an important
chance at what could've been a potential
résumé-building win Oct. 17, and leaves
Stanford on Nov. 28 as the last chance
for the Irish to secure a marquee victory
this regular season.
But a bigger picture look at the ex-
tended struggles for Notre Dame
against the very best teams remains the
top storyline and concern for the pro-
gram moving forward. Going back to
1998, the only win for the Irish in 18
games against a top-five opponent came
under Charlie Weis in 2005 versus No. 3
Michigan.
"That's how you're measured as a
program, when you're talking top-five
teams," Kelly announced last season,
just prior to a 31-27 loss to No. 2 Florida
State, a defeat that dropped him to 0-3 at
Notre Dame and 0-5 all time as a Foot-
ball Bowl Subdivision coach against top-
five opponents.
For comparison sake — perhaps un-
fairly — former Irish head coach Lou
Still In Search Of 'The Big' One
Head coach Brian Kelly has six wins over top-15 teams while at Notre Dame, but is 0-3 against top-five
squads.
PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA
