Notre Dame Football and What to Expect After 1-2 Start

Only three games into Notre Dame's 2010 college football season, the Fighting Irish have already been on a roller coaster ride to an underwhelming 1-2 record. A solid win against Purdue, followed by a near-comeback against Michigan, followed by a heart-pounding (literally) fake field goal touchdown has Irish fans already dizzy with nausea.

It's difficult to know what to expect from a team that still seems to be searching for its identity. The team has already exhaled its breathing room for a solid season, and head coach Brian Kelly is burning through his reserves of goodwill at a school not known for extending long lines of credit on patience.

A recovery requires Notre Dame to get its bearings quickly as the remaining schedule is hardly forgiving. The Irish face 16th-ranked Stanford this week and still have to play at home against No. 13 Utah and on the road versus arch rival No. 20 USC.

Outside the top 25, Notre Dame meets Pittsburgh, Navy, and Boston College, all teams that use the same tough-as-nails style that has given the Irish fits in recent years.

If there aren't any significant upgrades to the beta release of this year's Irish team, the outcomes of those games are likely to yield similar results—very close contests decided in the last few minutes. In that scenario, the magic eight-ball says about the likelihood of a .500 season, "It is decidedly so."

Late-season blooming has not been the norm in South Bend, but Kelly and his staff have no choice. They know that losing, no matter how close, is unacceptable. Kelly stated before the season started that his explicit goal for the team was to play better in November than it did in September.

Now he must make good on his word.

To do that, the Irish will need to make improvements across the board. The offense needs to find another hobby besides losing the football, and the defense, while more awake than last year, is still caught napping at inopportune moments.

Additionally, Kelly needs to squash the little Charlie Weis sitting on his shoulder whispering sweet nothings about the beauty of a converted fourth down.

What will be particularly interesting to watch is the offensive play-calling. After a solid running performance against Purdue, the Irish have limited their running backs to just 41 carries in their last two games combined.

Quarterback Dayne Crist has shown some positives in the passing game, but he has not yet displayed the consistent decision-making ability or command of the offense to merit a lopsided majority of the play-calls.

Kelly's decision to either continue through the growing pains with Crist or rely more on his stable of backfield horses will tell much about his offensive philosophy. A decision to remain focused on Crist would signal an unflinching faith in the passing game that is unlikely to change.

Such an occurrence should be concerning to Notre Dame fans. Kelly, and Weis before him, acknowledged that championship-caliber teams may pass the ball well, but they share the ability to run the ball well on command.

A credible rushing threat is necessary to retain control late in a close game, allowing the clock to run and setting up opposing defenses for a nail-in-the-coffin play-action score. 

Pass-heavy teams can light up a scoreboard, but—without a running attack— remain vulnerable in close games. Notre Dame's high-profile translates into many close games and necessitates an effective endgame strategy.

And if there is any lesson to be learned from the two losses, it is that last-second tragedy is not effective.