From the outset of his career at Notre Dame, 10th-year Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly outlined the three tenets that result in a quality football season.
“You’ve got to start with a win, you’ve got to win your home games, and you’ve got to win your rivalry games,” Kelly summarized of the prime objectives any college head coach has entering a season.
What constitutes a “rivalry game” these days is more nebulous than in the past. USC always is Notre Dame’s arch rival, but because Stanford and Navy remain the only other consistent mainstays on the schedule the past 20 years, they too might be categorized as traditional rivals — the way Purdue, Michigan State and Michigan used to be.