Notre Dame Football: Dayne Crist Named Starting QB, How Will It Play Out?

Notre Dame is back on top. Well, they are ranked and the expectations are at least high again in South Bend.

The Fighting Irish are ranked 16th, which is the best ranking since 2006, and the first time their ranked since 2009.

A BCS bowl is the goal this year and anything shorter would be considered a failure. They have a defense with lots of potential and offensive pieces all over the field. But they won't go very far if they don't have a solid quarterback under center.

Notre Dame named Dayne Crist the starting quarterback earlier today. It was pretty much a toss up between him and Tommy Rees, but it's really no surprise Crist was the winner.

Let's take a look as we breakdown the quarterback situation for the Fighting Irish and if they made the right decision.

Options

The options at quarterback for Notre Dame really came down to Dayne Crist and Tommy Rees.

Crist threw for over 2,000 yards and 15 touchdowns before he suffered a season ending injury. Rees then took over and led the Irish to four straight wins and throwing for eight touchdowns. Including leading Notre Dame to a bowl victory over the Miami Hurricanes.

Brian Kelly and company decided to go with the more experienced quarterback over the younger quarterback in Rees.

The Good

Dayne Crist

Crist is senior quarterback so he has the experience to lead this team. He has a cannon for an arm and possess some scrambling ability to avoid defenders. He helped led this team to an 8-5 record, throwing for over 2,000 yards and 15 touchdowns. He's also showed flashes of brilliance like the game against Michigan State, when he threw for 369 yards and four touchdowns.  

Tommy Rees

He took over for Crist when his injury happened and led the Irish to a 3-2 record, including a bowl win over the Miami Hurricanes. He makes good decisions with the ball and has a nice touch on his throws. He threw for over 1,100 yards and 12 touchdowns as a freshman filling in the role for Crist.  

The Bad

Dayne Crist

He is coming off of a ruptured patellar tendon, so who knows how healthy he is. But the main issue with Crist is his consistency and accuracy. He forces way to many throws and his seven interceptions in nine games shows that this is an issue of concern.

Tommy Rees

Only a sophomore, Rees still has a lot to learn. He threw eight interceptions in 164 pass attempts, and there were two games where he threw three interceptions. Unlike Crist, Rees lacks arm strength and good technique.  

The Prediction

How will Dayne Crist perform this season?

In Crist's first season as a full-time starter he was pretty good. He didn't do anything really spectacular but did enough to put Notre Dame in a position to win games. Hopefully he is fully recovered from his injury he suffered last season. If he is, he should be fine.

He has his first season under his belt, so his numbers should improve from last season. It's his second season under Brian Kelly and with Michael Floyd and all the other weapons on this offense the Irish should be in good hands this season.