Notre Dame Football: 20 biggest wins of the Brian Kelly era

Notre Dame Football: 20 biggest wins of the Brian Kelly era

18. Notre Dame 17, Stanford 14 (2014)

It wasn’t that long ago that Stanford was a game to circle on the calendar because they’d absolutely kill Notre Dame. In fact, it wasn’t that long ago that Brian Kelly needed to prove that he could beat Stanford with some consistency, as the Cardinal have had his number.

2014 was one of the few seasons when Kelly had Stanford’s number, but it certainly wasn’t easy.

Both teams were ranked in the top-14, with Stanford carrying the only loss between the two. In many ways, it felt like Notre Dame was fielding a better team than they did in 2012. No, they didn’t have any ranked wins yet, but the offense was proving to be very good under a now thriving Everett Golson.

Still, Stanford would be a brick wall to that offense. The Irish would be held to just one score through three quarters, but a late touchdown pass from Golson to Ben Koyack would give Notre Dame the lead and win. Eventually, 2014 would come crashing down, but at the time this was a win over a ranked rival that kept that year’s dream alive for a time.