Notre Dame Football: 5 most gut-wrenching losses of Brian Kelly era

2. Notre Dame 47, Texas 50 (Sept. 4, 2016)

With their 2015 collapse behind them, the 2016 season was supposed to be the year that everything went right. With virtually an entire year under his belt, Kizer was in the position to take the Irish to the next level after feeling cheated the year before. Opening up on the road against Texas, it was time for the Irish to prove that they were no joke.

It took Kizer and the Notre Dame offense only two and a half minutes to drive down the field in what ended with an Equanimeous St. Brown touchdown. However, Texas would soon answer with a score of their own, setting the stage for what would be college football’s game of the week.

Just when it seemed as if Texas was pulling away, Kizer manufactured two touchdowns of his own, pulling the Irish within three at the end of the third quarter. After some more back and forth and a timely defensive PAT conversion courtesy of Shaun Crawford, Notre Dame and Texas found themselves in a 37-37 tie at the end of regulation.

More of the same followed after back to back touchdowns in overtime, but it was the Longhorns who ended up pulling it out after countering a Justin Yoon field goal with a walk-it-off rushing touchdown. If squandering one of Kizer’s career-best games wasn’t enough, the Irish would follow up this demoralizing defeat with 4-8 season, the program’s worst finish in nearly 10 years.