Notre Dame Football: Turnover Woes Are Fighting Irish's Only Major Issue

Heading into the 2011 season, the usual BCS aspirations were permeating throughout the Notre Dame fan base. Those aspirations came crashing down because of one aspect of the game. Turnovers. 

It all began during the Fighting Irish's first drive of the season against South Florida. Former quarterback Dayne Crist drove the offense inside the Bulls' 10-yard-line, only for former running back Jonas Gray to have the football stripped and returned 96 yards for a South Florida touchdown.

That singular moment defined the 2011 season for the Fighting Irish. After Brian Kelly's squad finished with an 8-5 record, fans around the country gave the "woulda, coulda, shoulda" explanation for why the team didn't amass 10 wins and a berth to a BCS bowl.

Luckily for the Fighting Irish, their penchant for turning the ball over is their only major issue through two seasons of the Kelly regime.

But for his program to become a member of college football royalty, Brian Kelly and his staff must improve the team's abysmal turnover margin. At the conclusion of the 2011 season, Notre Dame ranked 116th in the FBS in turnover margin at -1.2. When a team is losing the turnover battle at such a staggering clip, stunning losses are nearly a guarantee.

Look no further than the first two games of last season.

In the opener against South Florida -- a team the Irish were heavily favored to defeat -- Notre Dame turned the ball over five times en route to a devastating 23-20 loss.

One week later at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, the Irish clung to a 17-point lead entering the fourth quarter despite having continued struggles with protecting the football. Those turnovers, along with a defensive collapse, resulted in yet another heartbreaking loss, 35-31 to the Wolverines.

There is a lesson to be gleaned from the ugliness of those disasters, though.

Despite turning the ball over an unheard of 10 times in those two contests, the Irish only lost the two by a combined seven points. In short, Notre Dame was nearly flawless in every other facet of the game.

The offense was moving the ball at will, and the defense was stout in seven of the season's first eight quarters.

And for conversational purposes, let's consider what would have happened had Notre Dame committed, say, five turnovers instead of the actual number of 10.

In all likelihood, the Irish would have beaten South Florida and Michigan, on the way to what would have been a 6-0 start, along with a spot in the top 25 rankings. However, the losses against Stanford and USC would have remained true.

Despite those two losses, a 10-2 regular season record would have qualified the Irish for a BCS bowl. Whether or not the team would have beaten a BCS quality team remains to be seen.

As you can see, turnovers were the sole reason that the Irish failed to live up their lofty expectations, yet again.

"Woulda, coulda, shoulda." What a shame.