I agree. Losing to Michigan on a consistent basis (mostly by blowing it late in the game) is far and away my biggest gripe with Kelly's tenure at ND.
Why do you think it is? I don't buy supernatural explanations. Why has ND lost a couple of close ones to UofM, with their lackluster over all performance?
So, if we are to believe that we had superior talent at ND and should have split the series or won more over the last few years; what reasons make sense for our losses?
There is the deficit quarterback situation, which is looming greater with the passage of time; not really the coaches fault. In fact if anything, they have overcome that and won more games that we probably should have won.
There is the Denard factor. Every year Michigan has hyped the hell out of their quarterback and Denard with his incredible athleticism was able to come through. Even Gardner with his ability had a career day against the Irish in '13 after his move to number 98, Heisman moment! So not psyching the team cuts both ways. People have criticized Kelly for not exciting his players more. With recent locker room chats revealed, he does a better job that I thought he did. And his idea of making the game work(man) like is better in my opinion (and with most I have discussed this with) than the emotional high and lows, you see with some other coaches.
So that leaves the game we won. What was different? We had a defense capable of fully executing their game plan. Having been at that game in '12, and not the away games in '11 and '13, I may not have a perfect perspective for comment. But in '12 the Irish hammered them in the trenches. And they came close to killing Denard. Denard could cut to the line and accelerate as fast as any player I have seen, but he was also much stronger than his size and build would indicate. In the '12 game, he was exhausted. I saw it, and it was the only time. There was a hit Manti had in the second half, which really affected his performance. I am not sure it even made the highlight real.
On the other hand Mattison put in packages that really affected the effectiveness of ND's offense down the stretch in each of the games.
So to review, past qb problems were not Kelly's fault. The rah-rah was not a factor. Denard is gone, and no one defensed him really well. What may have been was the defense, Borges was great at taking the under and making something out of it. We will see a different kind of game with the new improved M offense against BVG; and I am hoping it will restore the "Luck of the Irish!"