I'll be the first to say I would've ripped Rockne for it.

If I was an Ohio State fan, I would've ripped Meyer for the Purdue and Iowa blowouts a few years back. I would rip Dabo for this season if I was a Clemson fan. I would've ripped Holtz for BC 1993 if I was an ND fan then.

The issue isn't an occasional dud or two (though too many, which BK 1.0 had, IS a problem; but BK 2.0 has largely eliminated them). Kelly's issue is the lack of praiseworthy games.

I'm trying to think of the amount of "praiseworthy" BK moments:

2012 Stanford
2012 Oklahoma
2013 Michigan State (which at the time was not, but could maybe be considered one in hindsight, despite it being an ugly and unexciting game)
2014 Michigan
2014 Florida State (despite it being a loss, I thought it was a very well-coached game)
2017 USC
2018 Michigan (though they faded at the end of the year)
2020 Clemson (and, opposite of 2013 MSU, that praise has decreased given the ACC Championship rematch when Clemson was full health/strength, Clemson's buttwhooping at the hands of Ohio State in the CFP and Clemson's performance overall this season without Lawrence).

He's had way too few for 12 years at ND.

I do not consider 10 wins praiseworthy at Notre Dame. I do not consider "in the conversation" praiseworthy at ND. I do not consider not losing to unranked teams praiseworthy. These are necessary, but not sufficient. Winning big games, and ultimately and most importantly, winning a national championship is praiseworthy. Rockne won three national championships and won games at a career clip that literally has never been surpassed in the history of the sport.

Perfection is not expected/demanded. Even Saban has duds like A&M this year. That doesn't mean I wouldn't rip the coach for a dud; I'm a fan, of course I will criticize when I think it's warranted. But I'd be much more likely to accept a game like last year's ACC Championship game or 2017 Miami or 2019 Michigan or 2021 UC (a well-coached, experienced team, but way less talented than ND and in South Bend) or even an occasional season like 2010/2011/2013/2014, but ya gotta give me something. Give me a CFP semifinal win. Give me more than three final-ranking AP-top 10 wins in 11 seasons (Holtz had 15 in his 11 seasons). A national championship of course, would basically cure all ills.