Coach Brian Kelly deserves plenty of congratulations for surpassing Knute Rockne for the most wins by any Notre Dame football coach in history. It is a feat that’s required many years of sustained effort, consistency, adaptability, the dedication of assistant coaches and hard work on the part of the players.
While sending many Irish on to the NFL, Kelly has won the right way, with nation-leading graduation rates and preparing his student-athletes to be productive citizens after football is over.
Rockne faced 40 different opponents while head coach of the Irish and had a losing record against just one of them — the Iowa Hawkeyes, who won their only meeting with Rockne. Ironically, that game occurred 100 years ago this week, on Oct. 8, 1921.
Notre Dame brought a 20-game winning streak to Iowa City, including 9-0 marks in 1919 and 1920 with George Gipp displaying his versatile wizardry. The Irish still had plenty of power in ’21, with Roger Mohardt, Paul Castner and Roger Kiley leading the way. Notre Dame was considered a heavy favorite to dispatch the Hawkeyes of coach Howard Jones.
In front of a record crowd, Iowa played a game for the ages. They were led by star lineman Frederick “Duke” Slater, one of the first Black stars in the Big Ten and one of the last college football players to compete without a helmet. Slater cleared the way for Hawkeyes rushers and led a stifling defense that stopped nearly everything Notre Dame could throw at him.
The Hawks built a 10-0 halftime lead, which Notre Dame cut to 10-7 on a pass from Mohardt to Kiley. Nearly the entire fourth quarter was played in Iowa’s end of the field, but Slater and his mates withstood every Notre Dame charge, and held on to win, 10-7.
After the game, the Irish sat distraught in the locker room. Rockne came in and said, “There will be no alibis.” Then he went from player to player, checking for injuries and consoling each man with a few quiet words. While waiting for the train on Sunday, Rockne confided to a friend that he was beginning to question whether he could continue in all his roles — athletics director, football coach, athletic trainer, ticket manager, track coach. He was down.
As the train completed its lengthy trip and approached the station in South Bend, distinct sounds of cheering could be heard. More than a thousand students and townspeople had gathered to greet and cheer the team. Rockne accepted their pleas for a speech, in which he praised Iowa while defending the efforts of his men. His words were drowned in a tumult of cheering, and he was emotionally moved. He vowed never to leave Notre Dame. (Yes, this scene appears in the film “Knute Rockne: All American,” though it is attributed to another game in another season.)
During Rockne’s 13 seasons he lost a total of 12 games to eight opponents. And he compiled an overall mark of 35‑12-2 against those eight, for a .735 mark:
Opponent (Record)
Army (9-2-1)
Georgia Tech (7-1-0)
Carnegie Tech (6-2-0)
Southern Cal (4-1-0)
Nebraska (4-3-1)
Michigan State (3-1-0)
Wisconsin (2-1-0)
Iowa (0-1-0)
He would also more than even the score with Jones, defeating him four times after Jones took over the Southern Cal job in 1925.
Rockne’s 105 wins included a 20-0 record against three other Western Conference foes — 8-0 versus Indiana, and 6-0 against both Purdue and Northwestern.
Leahy’s Mark Got A 20-2 Start At Boston College
Leahy came to Notre Dame as head coach in 1941 after two very successful years at Boston College. His 1939 Eagles were 9-2, losing only to Florida, 7-0, in the regular season, and to Clemson, 6-3, in the 1940 Cotton Bowl.
In 1940, Leahy’s Boston College squad finished 11-0 and No. 5 in the final AP rankings. While the schedule included a three-game home stretch versus Idaho (60-0), St. Anselm (55-0) and Manhattan (25-0), the Eagles also trounced Auburn, 33-7, then defeated No. 4 Tennessee, 19-13, before 73,181 in the 1941 Sugar Bowl, in a game proclaimed the best of that college season.
Leahy replaced Four Horseman Elmer Layden as Notre Dame head coach in 1941. Over his 11 seasons (he didn’t guide the Irish in 1944-45), Leahy’s teams posted an overall record of 87-11-9. The 11 losses came versus nine opponents, against whom Leahy was 34-11-2 in total, a .745 mark. He was 1-1 against Michigan, 0-1-1 versus Great Lakes Naval Station and 2-3 versus Michigan State.
Leahy’s top win totals came against Navy (11-0), Southern Cal (8-1-1), Pittsburgh (7-1), Purdue (7-1) and Northwestern (6-0).
For his entire career, Leahy faced 44 different opponents and had a losing record against just four: Florida (0-1), Clemson (0-1), Great Lakes (0-1-1) and Michigan State (2-3).
Leahy guided the Irish to four national championships, in 1943, 1946, 1947 and 1949. His bid for a fifth, in his final season of coaching in 1953, fell just short as the Irish, led by Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Lattner, finished No. 2 with a 9-0-1 record. (Maryland was crowned as champion by AP and UPI, but after the final polls the Terps went on to lose 7-0 to No. 4 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.)
The only blemish for Leahy that year? A 14-14 tie on Nov. 21 against that old Rockne nemesis — Iowa.
Jim Lefebvre is an award-winning Notre Dame author and leads the Knute Rockne Memorial Society. He can be reached at: jlefebvre@blueandgold.com.
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