A Familiar Close Encounters Scene At Notre Dame
One of the reasons Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly is encouraged about the future despite the 3-6 start in 2016 is that none of the defeats were by more than eight points.
“If we're losing 31-0 … Then changes are made or you're playing younger players, and that's how you handle those situations," Kelly said. "But when you know that your nucleus is maturing and getting better and is going to be the group that you're playing next year, you're just working on the finer details during the course of the year and during the course of your preparation.”
Tell Charlie Weis that.
As the fifth-year head coach of the Fighting Irish in 2009, Weis’ Notre Dame team set a single season school record with six losses that came by eight or fewer points: Michigan (38-34), USC (34-27), Navy (23-21), Pitt (27-22), UConn (33-30 in overtime) and Stanford (45-38). The latter four were his final four games at Notre Dame, resulting in a 6-2 start culminating with a 6-6 finish.
Now in his seventh year as the successor to Weis after that 2009 season, Kelly matched that dubious record through the first nine contests with the six setbacks to Texas (50-47 in overtime), Michigan State (36-28), Duke (38-35), North Carolina State (10-3), Stanford (17-10) and Navy (28-27).
Weis’ six close defeats were by a total of 28 points, while Kelly’s were by 29. Weis did not last beyond that season at Notre Dame, but Kelly has received the public backing of University vice president and director of athletics Jack Swarbrick that he will return to lead the 2017 Fighting Irish team.
The 1960 Notre Dame team that finished 2-8 under second-year head coach Joe Kuharich had five losses by eight or less points. Kuharich bounced back resoundingly in the first three games of 1961 by opening 3-0 with victories against three Hall-of-Fame coaches: Oklahoma’s Bud Wilkinson, Purdue’s Jack Mollenkopf and USC’s John McKay, who would lead the Trojans to the national title the following year.
Alas, after crashing the top 10, Kuharich’s Notre Dame career came crashing down thereafter with a 3-5 finish, and then stepping down the following season after another 5-5 record.
Kuharich’s then school record of five losses by eight or less points was matched in 1986 by first-year head coach Lou Holtz when he debuted at 5-6. Five of those losses were by a total of 14 points, but they included national champion Penn State (24-19), SEC champion LSU (21-19) and Big Ten champion Michigan (24-23), quarterbacked by now Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh.
After all those close calls, the season concluded by rallying from a 37-20 deficit in the fourth quarter to post a 38-37 victory as time elapsed. That was a watershed moment that in the long run became a springboard toward a national title in 1988.
What direction will it take for Kelly?
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