Notre Dame Football: Who's To Blame for Disappointment, the Coaches or Players?

This wasn’t the way Notre Dame’s season was supposed to go.

Eight weeks in, the Irish weren’t supposed to be 4-3 and searching for answers, yet here they are, doing just that after an an embarrassing, mistake-filled 31-17 loss at home to rival USC this past Saturday.

For a team that began the year with 17 returning starters, a Top 20 national ranking and the backing of almost every major sports media outlet in the country, to say that Notre Dame’s season has been a disappointment would obviously be quite an understatement.

“This is the year!” is the cry we heard from all around Notre Dame nation.

“BCS bowl, baby!”

Once again, Notre Dame had high expectations going into a season, and once again, the Irish have failed to come close to meeting them.

The real tough part for fans to swallow, though, is that it almost seemed as if there was an opening for Notre Dame to get back on track. After starting off the 2011 campaign in disappointing fashion with consecutive losses to South Florida and Michigan, the Irish went on to reel off four straight victories, albeit against fairly mediocre competition, but four wins nonetheless.

With the Irish sitting at 4-2, the USC game was viewed as a potential turning point in Notre Dame’s season, one that could propel the Irish to success in the second half of the year.

But even with two weeks to prepare for the matchup and the energy and excitement of the first night game in South Bend in 21 years, Notre Dame fell flat against the Trojans.

Now, after the dismal performance, many are wondering where to point the finger and who to blame.

Some fans, media members and even USC players have criticized coach Brian Kelly for not using any of his three timeouts on the Trojans’ final drive, which started with 6:43 left in the fourth quarter, even though Notre Dame was only down by two scores and could have possibly had a shot to come back.

Kelly’s reputation has taken a hit this season, and you get the sense that some of the Notre Dame faithful have begun to turn their backs on the coach until he can back up his bravado with big wins.

While it’s easy to look at Kelly as the source of Notre Dame’s struggles, let’s not forget about the players, who also have to share some of the blame.

Notre Dame’s turnover problem reared its ugly head once again, as the Irish handed the ball to USC three times, and for the most part, the offense was basically inept throughout the whole game with its worst output of the season.

Brian Kelly can’t put superglue on Dayne Crist’s hands to prevent him from fumbling on the goal line and he can’t stop players from running sloppy routes and missing blocks.

It’s a coach’s job to prepare and it’s a player’s job to execute.

Kelly obviously didn’t have his team properly prepared and motivated for the game, but it didn’t help that his players came out and played lackadaisical football.

Both parties have to take responsibility for the loss and the disappointing season.

You win as a team and you lose as a team, and when things are going bad, everyone has to share the blame.

How evenly you’re ready to split that blame up will likely depend on if you’re a Brian Kelly supporter or a Brian Kelly critic.

Kelly has to realize, though, that in college football, you can’t cut or fire the players for playing poorly, but you certainly can go out and find a new coach.

If Kelly wants to stick around in South Bend, he’d be wise to find out a way to light a fire under his team and start getting his players to play up to their potential.

If he can’t start turning things around in the near future, his job will be in serious jeopardy.

Kelly was allowed to have one mediocre season last year, but he won't be allowed to have many more.