Brian Kelly’s Record Against Every Team On the 2018 Notre Dame Schedule
By J.P. Scott
How has head coach Brian Kelly fared against the teams on the 2018 Notre Dame schedule?
By now, you probably know the 2018 Notre Dame schedule by heart. Additionally, you probably already have a strong opinion — one way or the other — about Brian Kelly’s tenure as the head coach of the Notre Dame football team.
On the eve of the 2018 Blue-Gold Spring Game, I decided to dive into Kelly’s past to see how he has fared as a head coach against the slate of programs the Irish will face in 2018. These numbers include all of his matchups with the teams as a head coach at Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Notre Dame.
Michigan: 2-4. Both wins came while coaching the Irish. One of the losses took place while Kelly was at Central Michgan.
Ball State: 3-0. All three wins were while Kelly was at Central Michigan.
Vanderbilt: 0-0
Wake Forest: 4-0. All four wins came during Kelly’s tenure at Notre Dame.
Stanford: 2-6. Every matchup took place while Kelly was at Notre Dame.
Virginia Tech: 0-2. One loss was while at Notre Dame, one was at Cincinnati.
Pittsburgh: 6-2. Kelly has gone 4-1 vs. the Panthers while at Notre Dame and went 2-1 against them at Cincinnati.
Navy: 7-2. All matchups were while Kelly was at Notre Dame.
Northwestern: 0-1. The lone matchup between Kelly and Northwestern was in 2014, when the Wildcats defeated the Irish 43-40.
Florida State: 0-2. Both games took place during Kelly’s tenure at Notre Dame.
Syracuse: 5-0. Two wins at Notre Dame, three wins while at Cincinnati.
Southern Cal: 5-3. All eight matchups took place while Kelly was at Notre Dame.
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So there you have it. Brian Kelly’s lifetime record against the 12 teams he’ll face in 2018 is 34-22. Not great, but bad either. Hopefully he can log another (or in some case a first) win against all of them this coming season.