1993 vs. 2020

This is the second time Holtz has gotten a bit of a call out lately. "Holtz didn't win one in his last seven years." As a starting point, we are apparently ignoring that he had won a title in Year 3 and was #2 in Year 4. Two things Kelly has never done.

But Holtz also had major bowl wins against elite teams in those final seven years. He beat a one-loss and #3-ranked Florida team in the 1992 Sugar Bowl. The very next year, he beat previously undefeated and #4 Texas A&M in the Cotton. The very next year, he beat #3 Michigan and #1 Florida State during the regular season, and then he beat #7 Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl (again). If it weren't for a flukey last-second loss to #17 BC, he would have had his second title that year. That team almost certainly deserved it anyway, considering the head-to-head meaning so much in 1989.

Brian Kelly hasn't achieved anything like the above. He hasn't come close. The only part of the resume that is remotely comparable is that 1993 win over #1 FSU and this year's win over #1 Clemson. But, of course, Holtz didn't go on to suffer two blowout losses to end the 1993 season. Holtz accomplished more in 1993 alone than Kelly has ever accomplished at ND.

Which kind of season would you prefer - 1993 or 2020? It's also telling that Holtz and Kelly can be compared on their eleven-year ND tenures. Only by artificially cutting off those first several years (including two of the best three years in the last 43 years of Notre Dame football, all of which occurred under Holtz) can we even pretend the two are on the same plane.