Notre Dame Football: 4 Reasons the Irish Could Spiral Out of Control Next Season

Notre Dame has a long history of being one of the elite college football programs. They have a great tradition of winning and are used to playing quality football and being a top notch program.

Although lately that hasn't been the case as this team has struggled the last couple of years. This was suppose to be the season they turned things around; instead they finished 8-5 and lost the bowl game against Florida State. Irish fans have to be losing their patience as things can't turn around quickly enough for this program.

As we prepare for next season, Notre Dame will once again be heavily covered and have higher expectations than most other teams.

Here are a few reasons why the Irish may have to settle for another sub-par season.

No True Quarterback

I really gave Tommy Rees a chance and I do think he could be a solid quarterback. He has the leadership and has made some pretty decent throws. But the boneheaded mistakes have killed this team and he makes a lot of them. If anything, he's getting worse at forcing the ball in triple coverage and completing passes to the other team. 

Andrew Hendrix and Everett Golson are the perfect type of quarterbacks to run Brian Kelly's offense. Both are dual-threats and have strong arms. The problem is they both lack experience. Whichever quarterback becomes the starter next season will go through a learning process and growing pains. 

If you have a great quarterback running your team, you can make up for a lot of other mistakes. The Irish have potential at the quarterback position but no legitimate answer right now.

A Lot of Experience Leaving

This was supposed to be the year of the Irish mainly because the team was loaded with veterans across the board. A lot of those leaders are leaving now that they are seniors. That includes leading wide receiver Michael Floyd, who was a huge part of this offense and arguably the greatest wide receiver in Notre Dame history.

Also leaving are three key members of the offensive line in Taylor Dever, Trevor Robinson and Mike Golic Jr.

On defense Ethan Johnson and Darius Fleming are out the door as well. Not to mention the entire secondary was on their last year of eligibility. Sure, Manti Te'o is coming back for his senior year but he can only do so much at the linebacker position.

This will be a young Irish team, with a lot of positions open.

Schedule

Notre Dame's schedule this season wasn't that difficult but they couldn't overcome their own mistakes.

Next year it won't be so easy as they have quite a few quality opponents on the schedule. Some of those teams include Michigan, Michigan State, Miami, Stanford, BYU, Oklahoma and then of course USC at the Coliseum.

The Irish will without question have their work cut out for them and with a younger team, this is a schedule they can't be too happy about playing.

Brian Kelly and the History

Brian Kelly has officially completed two seasons at Notre Dame and both of them have finished with an 8-5 record. This was the most frustrating of the two because the offense ended up turning the ball over a total of 29 times. That's 111th worst in the country, which means only nine other teams are worse than them in that department. No excuse for it. 

You can come up with many reasons why they turn the ball over, but a lot of that is discipline and some of the blame needs to go on the head coach. And if Kelly couldn't get the job done with a veteran team that was loaded with talent, what makes you think he'll be able to do it next season with a lot of those players leaving?

The Irish have settled for mediocrity the last five seasons and until they finally show up, we have no reason to believe that next year won't spiral out of control as well. 

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers College Football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]