That's So Cincinnati: UC football legacy, radio analyst Jim Kelly talks Notre Dame game, rise of Bearcats football

No one knows the history of University of Cincinnati football better than Jim Kelly, a member of the school's athletics hall of fame and long-time radio analyst.

Whether as a player, broadcaster, son of a former assistant coach and athletic department administrator or fan, Kelly has attended nearly 500 Bearcats football games in his lifetime. None will be more significant than Saturday's showdown in South Bend, Indiana, between No. 7 UC and ninth-ranked Notre Dame.

"This is the biggest game in University of Cincinnati football history," Kelly told The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast. 

The Bearcats have a legitimate shot to make the College Football Playoff if they win this game and go onto an undefeated regular season. The plot is juicier when factoring in that Notre Dame is coached by Brian Kelly, who played a big role in turning UC into a football school as the Bearcats' coach. It will be Brian Kelly's first game against UC since he left for Notre Dame after the 2009 season. 

Jim Kelly, 67, no relation to the Notre Dame coach, will be in the radio booth alongside play-by-play man Dan Hoard calling the game on 700 WLW. It's Kelly's 31st season in the booth.

"This (game) is totally different. It really is," Kelly said. "There's been some big bowl games along the way. In 50-plus years, I've never seen anything like this."

In the "That's So Cincinnati" interview, Kelly offers his perspective on seeing UC football go from a national punch-line to a powerhouse. He recalled being at Penn State for the Bearcats' demoralizing 81-0 loss in 1991, and described how he felt after the game. Kelly remembers there being discussions about whether UC should continue to play football. 

He talked about UC's journey to the 2009 undefeated regular-season. Kelly mentioned names of those who stuck by the program and helped keep it together along the way, including his father, Jim Kelly Sr., who played for the Bearcats from 1947 to 1950.

The elder Kelly went onto to be an assistant football coach and a long-time staffer of the athletic department. UC's football program annually hands out the Jim Kelly Award to the Bearcats player who shows "outstanding spirit." The school's hall of fame is named in honor of the elder Kelly.

Like his father, Jim Kelly Jr. was also a top wide receiver for the Bearcats. He played for UC from 1973-1975 and was inducted into the James P. Kelly Athletics Hall Of Fame in 2017. 

Some Bearcats supporters have referred to the Kellys as the "First Family of Bearcats Football." What Jim Kelly Sr. think of the Bearcat