Notre Dame Football: Grading Brian Kelly’s coaching job in 2020

Notre Dame football made its second playoff appearance in three years before losing to Alabama in the semifinal. What grade does Brian Kelly get for 2020?

Coming into the 2020 season, there was a ton of uncertainty surrounding Notre Dame football. So much so, in fact, that I even wrote an article stating that I didn’t believe the Irish would even play football because of a school-wide COVID-19 outbreak.

Adding onto that, the Irish’s schedule would be decimated with most major conference’s deciding to go league-only play which was a death sentence for an independent like Notre Dame. But the ACC decided to take the Irish in temporarily so they could play a full schedule.

Admittedly, I was wrong.

Boy, was I wrong.

Not only did Notre Dame play, but the Irish made the playoff after a 10-1 regular season and loss to Clemson in the ACC title game. Yes, you read that correctly, in the only season Notre Dame found itself in the ACC, it made it all the way to the conference title game.

They exceeded expectations and then made the playoff despite getting smacked by Clemson in the ACC title game. The playoff committee may have looked at the split the Irish had with the Tigers in the regular season and conference title game as enough to keep Notre Dame in the playoff despite losing to Clemson 34-10.

Notre Dame got matched up with Alabama and we could all just have guessed how that was going to end up. The Irish had plenty of talent, but the Tide were just on a different level.

Alabama won the Rose Bowl matchup 31-14.

Ian Book improved throughout the year, the defense was impressive enough to earn Clark Lea a head coaching job in the SEC and Kyren Williams looks like a breakout star at running back. The Irish were expected to be good, but I don’t think anyone would have guessed 10-2 with a playoff appearance after the tumultuous start to the school year and unsure scheduling.

And for that, Brian Kelly deserves a very high grade.

Final Grade: A-