Air Force vs. Notre Dame: 5 Reasons Brian Kelly Has Notre Dame On BCS Track

The Notre Dame season could have easily gone in the tank after season-opening losses to South Florida and Michigan.

Considering how the Michigan game ended, it would have been understandable if the Irish continued on that downward spiral.

However, after Saturday's 59-33 victory over Air Force, the Irish are winners of four straight and sit at 4-2.

A lot of credit goes to head coach Brian Kelly and his staff. He's righted the ship and Notre Dame could still find a way to sneak into a BCS game.

Here are five reasons for the turnaround.

Turnovers

The biggest reason for the Irish turning things around is the fact that they are now protecting the football.

They didn't commit a turnover against Air Force Saturday, and if they continue to take care of the football, the offense will continue to roll.

After four weeks, it looked like Notre Dame would lead the nation in giveaways, especially in the red zone. Now it looks like they've corrected that problem.

Running Game

Give the offensive line some credit here, but the fact that Notre Dame has been able to establish the run lately has been big, taking much pressure off young quarterback Tommy Rees.

Jonas Gray and Cierre Wood have each turned in solid performances as of late and Andrew Hendrix eclipsed the 100-yard mark as well in their Week 6 victory over the Air Force Falcons.

The better they run the football, the less times Tommy Rees is put in a position to force things.

Quarterback Change

Once Kelly gave the keys to the car to Rees, things slowly started getting better for the Irish. Even looking back at the Michigan game, Rees played well enough to win that game.

You can see him grow by the week.

Tommy Rees looked very solid on Saturday spreading the football around. If he continues to do that, then the Notre Dame offense will always be in a good position.

If he goes back to continuously staring down star wideout Michael Floyd, well, then the problems could arise again.

After five starts, I have been fairly impressed by the play of the true sophomore Rees.

New Wrinkles

Developing new things that work and in-game adjustments are what makes a good head coach.

Inserting sophomore Andrew Hendrix in the spread as a change-of-pace quarterback is now something other teams will have to game plan for.

Hendrix made his coach look smart by rushing for 111 yards on seven carries, but more importantly, showed the ability to throw the ball as well, completing four of his five pass attempts.

You can never have too many weapons.

Schedule

Every game remaining on the Notre Dame schedule is winnable for the Irish, but as we know, every game remaining is also losable.

Therefore, Brian Kelly needs to keep the Irish focused on the week at hand, which is something he seems like he has the ability to do.

The next two games could make or break the Notre Dame season, but they are at home against USC and Navy. If Notre Dame gets past them at 6-2, maybe they can start looking at the bigger picture.