Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly has not announced who his quarterback will be for the Michigan game this Saturday. My guess is that it will be Tommy Rees. The team seemed to respond better under Rees and overall I think he gives Notre Dame the best chance to win the game and save their season.
This decision will impact the whole Notre Dame season and the Brian Kelly era. Notre Dame does not have a conference championship that they can play for, so a second loss will effectively knock them out of the BCS picture. I know Notre Dame has a clause where they can get in with three losses but that is very unlikely to happen because they will not finish in the top 12 as required in a possible three loss situation to earn a BCS invitation.
If Notre Dame losses this game and fall to 0-2, the recruits they have will possibly start to look elsewhere. The team will have to look forward to another Sun Bowl or Insight Bowl trip. It will cast a bad aura over the whole program. The alumni will be after Kelly’s head and the mood of the campus will become negative.
Brian Kelly has done a very good job but this is where his money will be made. Do you sit the senior on the bench and risk losing him? Do you start Rees? What if he has a bad game do you go back to Dayne Crist? This is why Brian Kelly gets paid a lot of money.
My guess is Kelly will go with the QB that gives him the best chance to win and that is Tommy Rees in my opinion.
John’s Top 10
1) Alabama
2) LSU
3) Oklahoma
4) Boise St.
5) Florida St.
6) Nebraska
7) Oregon
8) Stanford
9) Texas A&M
10) Virginia Tech