Notre Dame Football: Stanford's the Only Loss Left, So Was 2011 Really So Bad?

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish started the season off with expectations through the roof as everybody was expecting a double-digit winning season and a possible BCS berth. After three losses to the season already, all of those hopes are gone as Notre Dame has fallen out of the rankings.

The Irish will probably finish the season with four losses on the season as they wrap up the regular season with a trip to Stanford. That would leave Notre Dame with an 8-4 regular season record with a chance to finish one game better than last year with a bowl game. 

Has this season really been that bad?

To answer that question, you have to look a little deeper into the season of Notre Dame and see how things have played out.

The Irish started the season off with huge expectations and tons of hype like they do every season. All of that hype died down as they lost to South Florida. It was shocking and what made the loss even worse is Notre Dame beat themselves turning the ball over five times.

The next week, Notre Dame lost to a decent Michigan team, which is understandable. But once you realize they had a 31-28 lead with 30 seconds left, it's hard to defend. They also turned the ball over five times, which once again played a key factor in the loss.

Things may have even gotten worse a couple weeks ago against USC when they lost, 31-17. Trojan players later trashed Notre Dame, saying the team quit, and caused a big media mess which resulted in a few comments from head coach Brian Kelly that didn't help the situation.

In that game, the Irish turned the ball over three times, which makes 13 turnovers in the three losses this season. They have seven turnovers total in their five wins this season.

This has been a real struggling season for Notre Dame, and based off of the tradition of the program and the expectations they had this season, it's safe to say it was a failure.

Especially when you take into account of how Notre Dame lost those three games. I'll give you the USC loss because maybe the Trojans have more talent than this Irish team, but there is no excuse to lose to Michigan and South Florida.

Turning the ball over 10 times in two games is unacceptable.

Notre Dame could easily be 7-1 right now and highly ranked in the BCS Rankings, but instead they're fighting just to earn a bowl berth while their coach is answering questions about his job.

It's only Kelly's second season, and I do believe he will turn things around.

Although there will be no excuses next season.

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Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers College Football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]

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