I’ll have a full recap of the game as well as my usual commentary in the Hangover post (probably late Sunday night). Right now, I just wanted to briefly write about the scenario that had Irish fans worried from Spring football until now. The health of Dayne Crist.
We all had hoped for a better season, and we thought as long as Crist was healthy, that we should at least end up with a 8-4 record with a possibility of 7-5. We were wrong. On so many levels we were wrong.
During the 28-27 loss to Tulsa, we watched Dayne Crist suffer a season-ending knee injury to his “good” knee and got a look at how Brian Kelly has developed Tommy Rees. Tommy did an admirable job with a stat line of: 33-54 for 334 yards, 4 touchdowns and 3 INT’s. Not bad for a kid coming off of the bench.
The problem was those INT’s. One went for a pick 6, and another basically ended the game in the endzone. Personally, I don’t think that play should have been called when you are looking at a 36 yard field goal with one of the nations best kickers on your bench- and especially with your freshman Quarterback at the helm. However… Rees made a poor throw in terms of placement, so I will put the blame on both Kelly’s and Rees’s shoulders.(I’ll have more on this in the Hangover).
It’s a tough break for Dayne Crist. It’s a tough break for Brian Kelly. It’s a tough break for Tommy Rees. All three of these guys played different parts in this losing effort, and all three are part of a quarterback change that was not wanted. Some may have been calling for Crist to be benched after the Navy loss, but most of us have been under the impression that Dayne was the best option available. Maybe we were right, and the game would have been won had he not gone out- maybe we were wrong, and are witnessing the evolution of Tommy Rees and yet another new era at Notre Dame.
My guess is that it is somewhere in the middle like it always seems to be with the Irish.At any rate, Notre Dame has a new starter at quarterback and he has 2 weeks to prepare for what could be the toughest team on our schedule. Could this change, inspire better play from the team. Will they rally behind Rees and give us more than what we have seen after 9 games?
With so many starters injured, I think we have come to expect the unexpected; but can that surprise ever be a good one?
Go Irish!