Notre Dame Football: Upside of Irish Loss to USF

On September 3 the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame opened their 2011 football season with an unsettling loss to the University of South Florida. 

Despite the fact that the South Florida Bulls are a well-coached, athletically gifted team, many of the Irish faithful left the stadium that night tremendously disappointed and dreading the two-week stretch that lies ahead where they will face a Michigan team and a Michigan State team that easily handled their opening day opponents.

On my two-and-a-half hour drive home, I listened to the various sports radio shows and the consensus among commentators was that the Irish are likely to start the season 0-3 and will fail again this season to be in the BCS discussion.

In fact, one commentator suggested that Brian Kelly is Notre Dame's version of Rich Rodriguez. Another stated that he drank the Notre Dame Kool-Aid going into this season but has learned his lesson; stating that, in his opinion, the Irish will never again be a national power in football.   

Despite my own angst over the devastating loss to USF, I found solace in an old Lou Holtz quote that a team is never as bad as their worst performance and never as good as their best. As my cloud of despair began to lift, I could see that the Notre Dame performance wasn't entirely bad and that there was still hope for this season going forward. 

Offensively, the Irish racked up an impressive 508 yards of total offense on a top-20 defense.  Tommy Rees, who should be the starter next week, finished the night going 24-for-34 for 296 yards. 

Cierre Wood had 21 carries for 104 yards in an outstanding performance. 

Micheal Floyd was an absolute beast with a 12-catch, 154-yard night. 

And Tyler Eifert, despite a few uncharacteristic drops, finished the night with six catches for 93 yards. 

The defense held the Bulls to 254 total yards—well below their team average—and played well in many phases of the game, especially their line play.

All of this was overshadowed by the four Irish fumbles, three interceptions—two of which were in the red zone—the missed field goal, the dropped passes and the four personal foul penalties that kept the momentum from shifting in the favor of the Irish. 

South Florida, like all good teams, made big plays, capitalized on those mistakes and came away with the victory. 

Going into Saturday's game at the big house, if Coach Kelly and his staff can help the Irish eliminate turnovers, make the plays they are expected to make (like a 30-yard field goal and simply catching a pass) and improve their red-zone offense, the game could be the launching pad for a successful season.  

However, for Brian Kelly and his staff, their greatest challenge may be rebuilding the fragile confidence of a group of seniors who have experienced more failure in their four years at Notre Dame than success.