Notre Dame Football at the Midpoint: Where Are the Irish?

The midpoint of the 2011 campaign is upon us, and in many ways, it feels exactly like the end of the 2010 campaign.

The football team has reeled off four straight victories, has begun to look like the squad that everyone thought it would be and all signs point to the belief that the program is indeed heading in the right direction.

Notre Dame sits 4-2, outside the top 25, and is gearing up for a tough test in primetime against archrival USC that could serve as a coronation to the world that the Irish are back.

Or it could be a step back to the self destruction and depression of the season's first two weeks.

In the two season opening losses, the Irish showed glimpses of their full potential in racking up 1,021 yards while playing solid defense and showing explosiveness out of the backfield.

Unfortunately, 10 turnovers and a host of penalty yards left the Irish with two heart breaking losses.

The first ranked opponent, Michigan State showed the team take a large step forward in its second consecutive beating of a top 25 foe.

Still, the 31-13 win was a closer margin than the play on the field suggested, with two more Irish turnovers preventing a larger spread.

At Pittsburgh, another bad interception in the end zone and sack and strip of quarterback Tommy Rees placed the Irish on the brink of another terrible loss before a last minute game-winning drive won the day and potentially saved the season.

Following another up and down game and the closer than it should have been win at Pittsburgh, there was as much apparently wrong with Notre Dame as there was right.

The only category that the Irish topped nationally was turnovers, with 15 through four games.

There were questions about the choice of quarterback, questions about special teams and great uncertainty about how the season would end.

Now even at 2-2, Notre Dame needed a big showing in prime time against a 3-1 Purdue team.

When the 38-10 blowout was finished, the Irish had not only rolled up 551 offensive yards while allowing only 276, they finally managed an entire four quarters without a turnover.

Notre Dame closed out the first half with their most dominating win in several years, pounding Air Force 59-33.

Passing the "trap game" test Brian Kelly's Irish squad rolled into the bye week with everything working.

The defense is progressing nicely, bordering on dominant. Three of the last five touchdowns scored on the Irish in the last two games came against the second team in garbage time during a blow out win.

Michael Floyd is officially ridiculous, hauling everything near him and dragging defenders to ridiculous yardage.

Tyler Eifert is another All-American caliber tight end and is a mismatch against everyone on the Irish schedule.

Receivers not named Floyd are finally finding their way into the game plan and will be needed more and more, as the better defenses remaining on the Irish schedule will key on not allowing Floyd beat them.

The running backs, a position of worry in preseason following the ACL tear to Cam Roberson, have turned out to feature one of the best one-two punches in college football in speedy Cierre Wood and powerhouse Jonas Gray.

The key backfield position seems suddenly stable as well, as a plan has emerged at quarterback.

Sophomore starter Tommy Rees who over came his early turnover woes over the last two games, throwing for 515 yards and seven touchdowns.

On the season, Rees has connected on 66.4 percent of his throws for 1,503 yards, 14 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also led a game-winning drive, and a nearly game-winning drive that wasn't because of a defensive collapse at Michigan.

The primary knock against Rees has been that he can't effectively run the ball, and therefore doesn't challenge the defense.

Spread offenses are known to be more effective when there is a fear of a read option that will spread the defense farther sideline to sideline and create more lanes to both run and pass through.

Brian Kelly had proverbial "bullets in the chamber" on the bench, but seemed reluctant to insert either of his electrically athletic but inexperienced signal callers until they were ready to run and pass effectively to offer a truly dynamic change of pace.

Enter (at long last) Andrew Hendrix.

Sophomore Hendrix saw his first action of the season against Air Force and made an immediate impression. He connected on all four of his throws for 44 yards and carried for a team-high 111 yards on six attempts (the most by an Irish quarterback since Carlyle Holiday roughly a decade ago).

The only remaining weakness are occasionally shaky play at cornerback and up and down special teams.

After a tepid start, it now appears that the sky is the limit.

There isn't a team remaining on the schedule that Notre Dame can't beat, and they should be favored in each contest except the finale at Stanford.

Following the prime time USC tilt, Notre Dame hosts Navy, who was just beaten by Air Force and allowed 65 points to Southern Mississippi.

After the pair of home games, Notre Dame travels to Wake Forrest to play the surprising Demon Deacons. The Irish meet the disappointing Maryland Terrapins at Fed Ex Field in the annual "not so neutral" site game.

Before heading to face currently undefeated and fifth ranked Stanford, Notre Dame hosts the offense-less Boston College.

Winning out, which is all together possible, will land Notre Dame in a BCS bowl game.

Losing one, finishing 9-3 will leave an outside possibility of a BCS at large bid, but more likely would yield a trip to the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando. 

The larger picture is that Brian Kelly's influence on the program is becoming more and more evident. The team is learning to finish and has, for the first time in a long time, shown the ability to really dominate an opponent that isn't a cupcake.

The team is young. The team is talented.

This is only the beginning.