Blue and Gold Illustrated

UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE Holtz remarkably played 53 ranked op- ponents in his 11 seasons at Notre Dame (1986-96), and finished 31-20-2 in those, including a 12-8 mark against top-five foes, succinctly explaining his success with, "It's not rocket science." Taking science out of the equation, Kelly has six wins over top-15 teams while at Notre Dame: No. 15 Utah (2010); No. 15 MSU (2011); No. 10 MSU (2012); No. 8 Oklahoma (2012); No. 14 Stanford (2014); No. 14 Georgia Tech (2015). But of those six, only MSU in 2010 was ranked in the top 10 of the final Associated Press poll, and three of those opponents were completely out of the rankings by season's end, with the final fate of a struggling Georgia Tech team this season still to be de- termined. An examination of Kelly's record against ranked and elite teams raises the obvious question of how many big wins has he enjoyed at Notre Dame? And frankly, this list may be shorter and less distinguished than expected: • As a 12-point underdog and with hopes for a national championship on the line in 2012, a 30-13 win at Okla- homa — a team that had won 79 of its previous 83 home games — firmly put Notre Dame into the title picture and easily tops the list of biggest Irish wins under Kelly. • The impressive 20-3 victory at No. 10 Michigan State in the third game of 2012 seemed, at the time, like a solid candidate to perhaps top Kelly's mar- quee win list, until the Spartans lost five of their next nine games and finished the season 7-6. • Kelly's 20-16 win at USC during his first season here in 2010 was also monumental because it snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Trojans. But given that starting quarterback Matt Barkley was out for an unranked USC team that came into the game 7-4, no postgame parades were necessary. • The 22-13 win at USC in 2012 was also notable because it capped a perfect regular season for Notre Dame and se- cured a place in the national champion- ship game. But again, that underachiev- ing and unranked USC team lost five of its last six games that season. • Another contender for Kelly's best win comes in a 17-13 home victory of unranked Michigan State in 2013. That loss ended up the lone defeat of the sea- son for the Spartans, who finished No. 3 in the final AP poll. • Ranking right up there with MSU 2013 is Stanford 2012, a 20-13 overtime home victory with an epic goal-line stand. The then-No. 17 Cardinal went on to win its final eight games, includ- ing the Rose Bowl, for a 12-2 ledger and a No. 7 finish in the AP poll. Looking at the talent level and recruit- ing momentum of his program, Kelly faces many more chances to turn things around and secure big win after big win this season and beyond. And when he does get that victory, well, unfortunately, he will probably hear: "It wasn't big enough." Especially at a place like Notre Dame. ✦ Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at tburlage@blueandgold.com

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