Notre Dame Football: Is Brian Kelly Avoiding a QB Controversy?

I learned a few things watching Notre Dame dominate Navy yesterday.

The first thing I learned was that when your veteran offensive line outweighs their inexperienced defensive line by 45 pounds a man, the defensive line has a tendency to look like they’re playing on roller skates.

The second thing I learned was when your top two receivers are 6’3” 224 lbs. and 6’6” 247 lbs. and their secondary averages a hair under 6’0” 186 lbs., their secondary doesn’t match up all that well.

I also found out that when your second string QB has 12 pounds and two inches on their biggest linebacker and their safety has to play linebacker due to injuries, their linebackers don’t fare well against the aforementioned offensive line.

In an even bigger revelation, I discovered that 2-5 Navy teams with a QB that has played all of 27 minutes of major college football do not execute a precision offense much better than my drunken uncle Frank after a three day Blatz and whiskey bender.

To Navy’s credit, they still have backs that can get to the corner better than my 90-year-old mom now that her hip has given out for good and the picky bastards don’t allow her to use her cane to get to the edge.

Overall, I learned that Navy is next to last in the country in passing for good reason: They can’t pass worth a damn. I also learned they are 104th in the country in scoring defense for an even better reason: They couldn’t keep a determined set of puppies out of the red zone, and a litter of kittens could get a pretty good push up front if you put a bowl of milk behind the linebackers.

What I didn’t learn was why Tommy Rees was still taking snaps with less than 11 minutes left in the game and Notre Dame up 49-7.

Is Brian Kelly Avoiding a QB Controversy?

I am not trying to cry conspiracy here, although I do know who killed Kennedy if you’re interested in that sort of thing. All I am doing is pointing out the obvious.

In a game that has been clearly won against a defense that is putting up less fight than a high school cheerleading squad's paper sign saying "Go Eagles" across the front, Tommy Rees is still running the first string offense in the fourth quarter with a 42-point lead and a Navy offense that couldn’t complete three passes in a row if they were scrimmaging against me and my fat uncles.

What is the benefit of keeping Rees in other than piling up stats against one of the poorer defenses ever? Is Tommy having a midseason crisis that only beating up on an injured and under-manned secondary can resolve?

Where was Andrew Hendrix? I’m sorry, but unless he was injured, this is a game that begged for getting backups some good reps. The kid did great in his cameo against Air Force, and this was a perfect opportunity to see if he can expand his football IQ against an outgunned defense. A series or two surely wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the game, which was little more than a live scrimmage after the second quarter on.

Why have Tommy throw a late interception? He sure as hell already knows how to throw to defensive backs. I’m just saying maybe Kelly should let Hendrix come in and get the feel for bouncing balls off the secondary.

I mean, if you needed Rees in there to ensure the game is in hand, does it make sense to pull him for your second stringer after they turn his latest pick into a score?

And if you’re going to play Crist, why not a series or two earlier with the first string he should be playing with, or will be if Rees grabs his knee and goes down again? Putting Crist in to start the fourth quarter sure as hell wasn’t going to open ND up to a big comeback was it?

To his credit, Crist came in and threw the ball effectively, just as he did against USC before belatedly realizing buttered popcorn is not the wisest sideline snack before a big series.

Is it coincidence that Kelly plays Rees and his first string until he tosses another pick, then pulls him to have Crist try to shine with second and third stringers? Is he setting up Crist to fail or making sure there are no more howls for Hendrix to see the field?

Is Rees' psyche that fragile or Kelly that worried the media will jump him if a second stringer kicks ass in mop up time? Or is he making sure the talking heads aren't going to second guess him if Rees goes outs and flops against Stanford?

I'm just asking: What was wrong with taking advantage of a lopsided win to get your back-ups some good experience?

A Win is a Win

Look, after the debacles the last couple years against Ricky Dobbs and Co., I’m not  throwing stones at a convincing win against an offense that has created nightmares for the Irish. Notre Dame played a great game and Rees was effective running the offense.

Whether that was much of a feat or not, he still did a good job despite another pass/lateral/fumble and a poor pick to end his night with a whimper.

I just want to know why we were still piling it on in the fourth quarter behind our first string offense with two capable QB’s on the sidelines that deserved and/or needed to play.

Everyone knows I have issues with marching Tommy Rees out on the field week after week and pretending he has the ability to beat good college defenses on a consistent basis, so I'm thinking maybe it's just my bias and/or paranoia that makes me question why Kelly has a first string offense and QB play halfway through the fourth quarter in a 42-point blowout.

Tell me, is it just me, or did Kelly go out of his way to make sure the other QB’s didn’t get much chance to succeed?

Author’s Note: The Cuban mafia had JFK offed. Heard it from the shuttle driver from the airport to the hotel when I visited Boston last week.