Notre Dame Has A Recent Track Record Of Bouncing Back Well After Regular Season Defeats

Notre Dame hasn't lost much during the last five seasons, a stretch in which the Irish have gone 47-9 in just under four and a half seasons. This past weekend Cincinnati gave Notre Dame its first loss of the season, and the Irish follow that up with a road trip to Lane Stadium to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies.

Notre Dame is in a must-win situation this weekend as it hopes to avoid the first two-game regular season losing streak since 2016. That means Notre Dame has done well from 2017-20 to bounce back from its rare defeats, and head coach Brian Kelly will look to keep that rolling.

2017

Georgia beat Notre Dame at home 20-19. It was only the second start for quarterback Brandon Wimbush. That was the debut of Georgia freshman quarterback Jake Fromm. Rodrigo Blakenship, a sophomore, kicked a 30-yard field goal with 3:39 left to give the Bulldogs the victory.

How the Irish responded? Wimbush, still a shooting star, ran for a quarterback record 207 yards in a 49-20 victory over Boston College. That included a 65-yard touchdown run. Josh Adams rushed for 229 yards. Notre Dame totaled 515 yards in the win. Hard to imagine the 2021 Irish rushing for over 500 yards.

Notre Dame went onto win its next seven games by an average score of 43-19.

Later that season Notre Dame lost a road game to Miami by a 41-8 score, but it bounced back a week later by beating Navy in the final home game of the season. The Irish won that game by a 24-17 score. Notre Dame fell to Stanford in the final game of the regular season (38-20) but bounced back to beat LSU in the Citrus Bowl.

2019

Notre Dame again lost to Georgia early in 2019, falling to the Bulldogs by a 23-17 score. The Irish had a chance late in the game to win, getting the ball inside Bulldog territory with just over two minutes left in the game but the offense failed on its fourth down attempt.

Notre Dame took on the No. 18 Virginia Cavaliers a week later and fell behind 17-14 at the half. The Irish defensive line overwhelmed UVA quarterback Bryce Perkins in the second half, forcing two fumbles on sacks. The first set up a short touchdown run by Tony Jones Jr. to give the Irish the lead and the second was returned 23 yards for a touchdown by Adetokunbo Ogundeji.

Jones added another score in the fourth quarter to cement a 35-20 victory.

Notre Dame suffered an embarrassing 45-14 loss to Michigan a month later. A week later the Irish hosted Virginia Tech in a game the Hokies led 20-14 with just over three minutes left in the game. Quarterback Ian Book converted a pair of fourth downs before spring into the end zone with just 0:29 left in the game to secure a comeback victory.

Notre Dame won its next five games by an average score of 41.6-13.4.

Notre Dame did not lose a regular season game in 2018 or 2020.

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