Notre Dame Football: A Loss to Stanford Shouldn't Define Irish's Season

Regardless of what transpires on Saturday evening on The Farm, Notre Dame's 2013 season should be viewed as a success.

Yet six months ago, the thought of the Fighting Irish entering their regular-season finale at Stanford with an 8-3 record would have been viewed as a disaster and an utter failure to meet the mountainous expectations placed on the program following its appearance in college football's title game for the first time in 24 years.

But that was prior to former starting quarterback Everett Golson's expulsion from the school for what was later revealed to be cheating.

No matter your perception of the dual-threat quarterback, the loss of his services drastically altered the course of the Irish's 2013 season. In his place would be senior Tommy Rees, who started 11 of 12 games for the Irish during the 2011 season.

His physical limitations have been well-documented, as have their negative effects.

It was understood that Rees could only carry the team so far, and that a return trip to the BCS National Championship Game was out of the realm of possibility with the 6'2", 215-pound quarterback at the helm.

While Rees has performed more than admirably as Golson's replacement, expectations were tempered when head coach Brian Kelly announced him as the Irish's starter for the 2013 season. All of a sudden, a "successful" season had shifted from earning a BCS bowl berth to simply winning eight or nine games.

But the trajectory of the season can't be limited to a narrow view of the quarterback position, as other occurrences have made the Irish's inclusion in the most recent BCS rankings even more improbable.

First and foremost, the regression of Notre Dame's defense from its 2012 form has been disconcerting.

On its way to last season's national title game in Miami, the Irish defense allowed just nine touchdowns during the regular season. Despite eight returning starters from that stifling unit, the Irish have allowed a total of 31 touchdowns through 11 games thus far through the 2013 season.

What has been the root cause of that rather unsettling regression?

For starters, defensive coordinator Bob Diaco's unit has slid to 68th nationally in rushing defense, allowing an average of 167.5 yards per game on the ground. Remember, this unit has featured a defensive line consisting of Louis Nix, Stephon Tuitt and Sheldon Day all season.

As a result, takeaways—an overwhelming strength for the Irish last season—have come at a premium.

In fact, Kelly and Co. rank 80th nationally in turnover margin, having posted three more giveaways than takeaways thus far.

Had this picture been foretold prior to the current season, expectations may have been lowered even further, perhaps to the disastrous depths of Notre Dame's (un)forgettable 2007 season.

But despite the perceived weaknesses of Kelly's 2013 bunch, the Irish have found a way to meet the post-Golson expulsion expectations, which is a noteworthy feat in itself. While the season won't end with a BCS bowl berth, it will end in a much better position than it could have.