5 Reasons Everett Golson Gives Notre Dame Fighting Irish Best Shot to Win

You knew it was only a matter of time before there would be another quarterback controversy in South Bend. First-year starter Everett Golson has played well so far, but it was Tommy Rees who helped lead the Irish to a victory against the Purdue Boilermakers.

After Golson fumbled the ball on Notre Dame's 15-yard line, it set up a game-tying touchdown for Purdue with only two minutes left to go. Head coach Brian Kelly replaced Golson with Rees, and the former starting QB helped set up the game-winning field goal with only seven seconds left to play.

So is there a chance that Rees is able to earn his starting job back? Not so fast.

Here are a few reasons why Golson will continue to be the man and will be counted on to lead this Notre Dame football team.

His Skill Set

The main reason nearly everybody wanted Golson to be the starter this season was because of his incredible skill set. Although he does lack experience, being a redshirt freshman, he seems to be the complete package and could eventually turn into a remarkable quarterback.

Sure, Golson is known as a dual-threat quarterback, somebody who is capable of killing you with his legs, but in the first two games of his career, he has shown so much more than that. Golson is incredibly comfortable in the pocket and has shown that he is not eager to take off and run. He stands strong in the pocket, does a solid job of feeling pressure and does a good job of stepping up and moving around accordingly.

Then of course there is the accuracy, as Golson has an extremely strong arm, but is incredibly accurate with the football as well. He puts a great amount of zip on the ball and puts it exactly where it needs to be placed.

With him capable of being a true quarterback and able to hurt you with his legs, Golson is not only exciting. He also gives coach Kelly many different ways to use him in his offense, which makes him the best option at the quarterback position right now.

He Has Proved It

We may only be two games into the season, but the Irish are averaging 433 yards a game, which is the most for their offense since the 2009 season when they had Jimmy Clausen at quarterback.

Coach Kelly continues to ease the young quarterback into the offense, as Golson has only thrown 49 passes so far. In response, the QB has excelled, completing over 67 percent of his passes, and out of 33 completions, 10 have gone for plays over 10 yards and six have gone for plays of over 25 yards.

Golson has truly only made one major mistake with the football, which was a forced pass into double-coverage in the first half of the Navy game.

It will be nice to see what he is capable of when he has to lead the Irish from behind, but so far, you cannot be any more pleased with Golson's performance in his first season as the starter.

Two-Quarterback System Hasn't Worked so Far

Brian Kelly has made the decision to go with Golson as the starter, so he has to stick with it. Throughout his career, Kelly has been known to run a two-quarterback system, but it hasn't exactly worked for him so far in South Bend.

The Irish are a combined 0-6 the last two seasons when two quarterbacks have thrown at least five passes in the same game. In fact, last week’s victory over Purdue was the first victory for Kelly when two different quarterbacks have seen significant action.

Golson has not played bad at all to even consider a quarterback change, and with those type of numbers, it is hard to imagine going back to a two-quarterback system. Unless Golson really begins to tank with the increased difficulty in the schedule, the redshirt freshman is the man that should be leading this football team.

Already Been Down the Other Road

The main reason the Irish have not won under Kelly so far is because of brutal quarterback play the last two seasons. In the first two years, there have been a total of 33 interceptions, which is simply not going to get the job done if you are trying to compete for a BCS bowl.

Last year, four of the 17 interceptions came in the red zone, while 11 of the 33 total interceptions came in the fourth quarter. Tommy Rees has been responsible for 22 of those interceptions the last two seasons, as he consistently throws into double and triple coverage and makes horrifying decisions with the football.

Rees has the experience over every other option on this roster, but that is about the only advantage he has over the current starter. Notre Dame has a team that is capable of making a run this season, but the offense has to be able to take care of the football.

With Golson, it appears that they may have found their man, and Kelly can't afford to mess that up right now.

Brian Kelly Says so

We can come up with a million reasons as to why Golson should remain the starter, but head coach Brian Kelly has already done it for us. Despite Tommy Rees being the one to lead this team down the field, Kelly has already put the rumors of Golson losing his starting job to rest. (Via Brian Manzullo of the Detroit Free Press)

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There is no quarterback controversy. Kelly told reporters. Everett Golson is our starter. He will start against Michigan State. We know we have assets at that position with Andrew Hendrix and Tommy Rees.

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He has also taken the young quarterback under his wing and keeps an open line of communication with the redshirt freshman. (Via The Washington Post)

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He’s going to know that what we tell him is what we mean. Kelly said of his relationship with Golson. We are not going to be sending mixed messages. There’s got to be a trust factor here. .... I think if you only talk to him once a week, yeah, you probably have those concerns, but we eat dinner together every day. So there’s constant communication.

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Along with Golson playing well, it appears that the head coach has a special bond with his starting quarterback and doesn't plan on making a permanent switch anytime soon. That is good enough to believe that he gives the Irish the best chance to win right now.