Notre Dame Football: Are Irish Eyes Rooting Against Tommy Rees?

At halftime of the season opener against South Florida, a massive thunderstorm descended upon Notre Dame Stadium. Both literally and figuratively, the winds howled through building.

While a powerful thunderstorm cleared the stands outside, an equally strong torrent was brewing inside.

A quarterback controversy had begun.

After a terribly lackluster half in which fall QB competition winner senior Dayne Crist finished 7-of-15 for 95 yards and an end-zone interception, he was pulled in favor of last year's hero, sophomore Tommy Rees.

Despite throwing two interceptions himself, Rees connected on 24-of-34 attempts for 296 yards and two touchdowns, nearly bringing the Irish back from a 16-0 deficit before falling 23-20.

Shortly after the game, head coach Brian Kelly reversed his decision of two weeks earlier and named Rees starter.

In the three games that have followed—a heartbreaking loss at Michigan, a beating of then-No. 15 Michigan State and a narrow victory at Pittsburgh—Rees has raised his record as starter to 6-1.

Now, I personally feel that assigning a win-loss record to a quarterback is about as useful as counting blades of grass in the end zone, so please don't put a lot of stock in it. Statistics do however indicate why Brian Kelly feels that he made the right choice.

The general feeling regarding Dayne Crist and his 2010 season was that he was inconsistent. He would show periods of brilliance that placed his considerable arm strength on display, and he would immediately follow those periods by repeated corkscrewing balls into the ground yards short of their intended target, or triple pumping before throwing the ball away or taking a sack.

Crist's passing numbers reinforce those feelings.

Kelly cites the primary reason for the switch being production. The offense more consistently moves with Rees at the helm.

For the sake of argument, have a look at some numbers:

Career passing stats:

Dayne Crist: 191-for-329 (58%) for 2,258 yards, 16 touchdowns and 9 interceptions

Per Game average: 170-for-30 (57%) for 205 yards, 1.5 touchdowns and 1 interception per game (11 games)

Tommy Rees: 193-for-304 (63.4%) for 2,094 yards, 19 touchdowns and 14 interceptions

Per Game average: 19-for-30 (63%) for 209 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1.5 interceptions per game (10 games)

Rees edges Crist in rating (133 to 118) and touchdowns per attempt (1 TD for every 16 attempts to 1 per every 20 attempts).

The numbers aren't glaring, but there is a difference. Rees is outperforming Crist in every category except one:

Turnovers.

For all that Rees has done positive, nothing turns the world sour faster than turning the ball over. Especially at quarterback.

Running backs will fumble, returners will occasionally miss-judge a punt. Notre Dame has committed a season's worth of those errors already, falling to a FBS worst 120th in turnovers with 15. 

What makes that number worse is that Rees alone has eight, which is more than 108 teams alone.

Interceptions will happen, but hopefully not nearly two per game. Sack and fumbles will happen, but again Rees has been victimized more than you would hope.

Irritation is understandable.

But there is more than irritation surrounding Tommy Rees, who not long ago was the fan favorite after leading an improbable 4-0 finish to the 2010 campaign.

Irritation is beginning to turn to hate.

Some question Brian Kelly as to why he hasn't reinstated Dayne Crist because of Rees' "struggles."

Kelly reminds them that Rees has won three of the four games that he has started, and that he led game a drive that should have won the Michigan game and a drive that did win the Pittsburgh game.

On those winning drives Rees connected on 12-of-12 passing for 146 yards ending each with a touchdown.

It is also true that Rees' worst game this year, last week's 216-yard, 58.5 percent completion with one touchdown and one interception would account for better production than Crist's career average.

After the first half of the first game, Kelly had determined that Crist's one upside over Rees, foot speed, wasn't enough to keep him on the field.

With the senior Crist passed over for Rees, it seems that his days of playing, barring injury, are over at Notre Dame.

So why not sophomore Andrew Hendrix? He has a blazing arm and is amazingly fast, right?

The biggest knock on Rees is that he turns the ball over too much. No one can argue that the offense produces yardage with Rees at the helm, and the fact that the team is 6-1 with him starting shows that you can win with him.

So if the primary argument is that he makes too many mistakes with the ball, why on earth would you turn to another sophomore QB who's never taken a snap?

Further troubling for the Hendrix camp is the apparent fact that Kelly favors true freshman Everett Golson who appears to be sitting out receiving a quasi red shirt.

It should be fairly apparent that Rees is the best option left.

It also has to be questioned to those who want to see a change at the position that if Hendrix could be implanted and groomed, why can't Rees?

If you are willing to watch a completely inexperienced QB learn in the game, why not allow Rees that credit?

Is it because he doesn't pass the "eye test?" He's not 6'4", 230 lbs running a 4.5-second 40? He can't throw the ball through the goal posts from 60 yards on his knees?

So what?

Is it because he's a pocket passer? Because he can't run a read option?

Neither could Crist.

Kelly's offense doesn't require it, as he never used an option game with Cincinnati standout Tony Pike.

Rees is mobile enough to get outside the pocket, and is still accurate on the move.

In fact, his biggest attribute is his accuracy.

The Notre Dame offense is a spread offense, yes, but it is not an option based spread. Quite the opposite in fact. It is much more similar to a west coast offense but run from a shotgun with four receivers in the game.

The pass selection involves quick short timing passes that will be thrown into traffic. The ball has to come out quick and be on target. Those short route trees pull the safeties up and keep the linebackers at home guarding against constant slant and crossing routes from both the wide and slot receivers.

When the offense is reeling off first downs at will and the ball is coming out too fast to effectively pressure the passer (Rees has only been sacked twice) the defense begins committing a DB to blitz, allowing one-on-one coverage on the outside.

Rees has recognized this several times, on the game winning drive against Pittsburgh, and on the third quarter touchdown that effectively put the game away against Michigan State.

Over the last two games he has in part corrected his terrible habit of targeting only Michael Floyd, even if he's triple covered. One interception against South Florida both against Michigan, and the one against Michigan State were Rees trying to force a ball to a covered Floyd.

The other interceptions this year are only partially Rees' fault. One hit receiver T.J. Jones in the facemask and bounced into a linebacker's arms, and the other this Saturday was an outstanding defensive play on a ball that had touchdown written all over it.

Those happen to anyone.

So do sack strips.

As a 19-year-old true sophomore, Rees has a lot of room for growth and has three huge attributes that simply cannot be coached: accuracy, poise and intelligence.

On the season he has a 66.4 completion percentage.

In drives following an interception Rees is 27-for-43 (62.7 percent) for 259 yards. He has thrown two touchdowns, drives led to two field goal attempts, and another one inside the red zone that ended in the second interception at Michigan.

He bounces back well, and is calm and collected under pressure.

He has shown understanding of what he's seeing, and how to get into a better play. He's shown that he is a smart player, and despite mistakes has earned the confidence of his teammates and coaching staff, who's opinion matters much more than we the peanut gallery.

The bottom line is that Tommy Rees is the starting quarterback at Notre Dame. It's his job to keep or lose.

Should he falter for the rest of the year, there will be a competition this year.

But Kelly believes in him, and is going to try to coach him into using his smarts to avoid the kind of mistakes that have plagued him early.

If Kelly can do that, be ready to watch Rees under center for the next two years until giving way to Everett Golson in 2014.