Notre Dame Football: No Clear Winner Should Make Tommy Rees the Clear Winner

When approaching the football season in South Bend, much of the talk in recent years has been about Notre Dame's starting quarterback. This year is no different, except for the fact that it is not yet clear who the starting quarterback is.

Back in the spring, there were four names that were possibilities. They were Dayne Crist, Tommy Rees, Andrew Hendrix and Everett Golson. Now it is down to just Crist and Rees, as it should be. No disrespect to the young guys, but they do not yet have game experience.

Head coach Brian Kelly says that he cannot give all four guys reps with the starters, and he is not yet ready to include Hendrix and Golson in the mix.

So now, focusing on just Crist and Rees, it appears that it is very close. Kelly likes what he has seen from both Rees and Crist. Kelly has stated that he would like to make that decision about two weeks before the start of the season.

The way I see it is that, if there is no clear winner, than Rees is the clear winner. The reason is simple: The team is still undefeated with him as the starter. I do like Dayne Crist, but he has had problems staying healthy in the last two seasons.

There is just something about how the team finished the season with Rees as the quarterback. The unit clearly looked together. The team really replied after Rees quarterbacked them. Rees will be there a lot longer than Crist will be.

At the end of last season, I was of the mindset that I like Crist a lot, but you just can't take Rees out. I understand that Crist does have a stronger arm and is a better athlete. However, Rees makes up for that with a quick release and really good leadership.

Finally, there is one factor that nobody can ignore. Rees wins. As much as I like Crist, his record is below .500 as a starter. I am not suggesting that that is his fault at all. Again, there is just something about how the team came together when Rees took over.

Based on all that, I felt that, going into camp it should have been Rees' job to lose. That means that Crist, or somebody else, would have to clearly out-perform Rees in practice in order for Rees not to start the opener against South Florida.

Apparently, that is not happening. Rees and Crist are both doing well, and there is no clear winner. That should mean that Rees is the clear winner.