Tommy Rees: Is Unranked Notre Dame Wise to Start Sophomore QB vs. Michigan?

The new Top 25 Polls of college football were released today, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish find themselves on the outside looking in after a loss to the South Florida Bulls. 

Head coach Brian Kelly had to use both quarterbacks this past weekend, which meant the quarterback job was still up for grabs. 

Kelly wasted little time making his decision this week when he announced today that sophomore Tommy Rees would be the starting quarterback against the Michigan Wolverines.

Rees stepped in for senior Dayne Crist after the big weather delay, but he was still unable to lead the Fighting Irish to a victory.

Notre Dame has their hands full against an improving Michigan team under new head coach Brady Hoke, and one has to wonder, did Kelly make the right decision in starting Rees? 

Kelly told reporters that he hopes Rees will step up because he obviously doesn't want to change quarterbacks again. Per ESPN:  

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Nobody wants to go in and change their quarterbacks each and every week, Kelly said at his weekly news conference. That's just not the way you play this game. So our hopes are Tommy is productive and can play at a high level week in and week out.

He's got a pretty good resume, he's 4-0 as a starter, he's come of the bench twice and has played very well in those circumstances. 

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The Fighting Irish had success on offense last week, but it was turnovers that ruined their chances of winning. They couldn't hold on to the ball, and they couldn't put the ball in the end zone.

Kelly did the right thing in starting Rees because Crist failed to do his job last week. He was the quarterback with more experience, and he should have easily taken care of the Bulls. 

That didn't happen, and once he got in a hole, he was unable to fight his way out of it. 

Rees has done a solid job whenever he steps in, and Kelly had no other choice but to start him. 

However, don't be surprised if you see both quarterbacks play again this weekend. 

Notre Dame is not where they want to be right now, but it was a very smart move for Kelly to name a starter early in the week so the offense can properly prepare.