Notre Dame Football: Would Brian Kelly have titles in a different era?

It’s no secret that the thing that separates Brian Kelly, at least in most fans’ eyes, from the all-time great coaches in Notre Dame history is postseason success. After all, Kelly has never won a major bowl game, let alone a National Championship.

Knute Rockne, Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine, and Lou Holtz all won at least one National Championship. Leahy, it’s worth pointing out, never won a major bowl game, as Notre Dame didn’t attend a bowl between the 1925 Rose Bowl and the 1970 Cotton Bowl.

That’s actually a key point to understand, how college football determines a National Champion has changed radically over time. In fact, there was a period when they didn’t even declare a champion at all. For most of the 20th century, the AP Poll was how college football determined a National Champion.