Notre Dame Makes a Switch: Rees to Lead the Irish Against Michigan

Two weeks ago, Notre Dame football was supposedly back. Sports media pundits around the country called for double-digit wins from the Irish. Even head coach Brian Kelly declared that the team's goal was BCS or bust. Today, the Fighting Irish are 0-1 and have recently benched their senior quarterback.

Saturday afternoon, the Irish took the field ranked as the #16 team in the nation. Starting quarterback, and NFL prospect, Dayne Crist promptly led his team down inside the five-yard line against a South Florida team that most people had dismissed as a threat to the mighty Irish - and then it all fell apart. Jonas Gray fumbled on the goal line and the Bulls returned the miscue 96 yards for a touchdown. Instead of jumping out to a quick lead at home, the Irish were knocked off balance for the rest of the half, going into the break trailing 16-0.

Good luck Tommy, you might need it.

When Notre Dame reemerged for the second half (after a more than two hour delay due to inclement weather), they were led out by Tommy Rees, a redshirt sophomore who saw action last year while Crist recovered from injury. Rees faired better than Crist, throwing for 296 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw two interceptions, but his production could not be denied. Notre Dame outscored USF 20-7 with Rees in the game, and it led fans to wonder if the Irish would have fared better than their eventual 23-20 loss if Rees had played the whole game.

Notre Dame won't get a mulligan to play USF again. They kissed their national ranking goodbye when Tuesday's rankings were released, and their BCS bandwagon looks to have tons of space on it as of this moment. However, Tommy Rees will indeed get a chance to impact a game from start to finish this week. Rees has been named the starting quarterback for Notre Dame's clash with Michigan.

Don't expect Rees to be overwhelmed. Rees led the Irish to victory at the Coliseum against USC, and Notre Dame routed Miami in the Sun Bowl with Rees under center. Still, it is worth noting that the expected atmosphere at the Big House should be unlike anything Rees has ever seen. Well, actually the scene at the Big House will be unlike anything anyone has ever seen. Rees will take the field as the opposing quarterback in Michigan Stadium's first ever night game. The crowd is expected to be one of the Wolverine's biggest ever (remember that Michigan has the biggest stadium in the country), and the game will be on primetime national television.

With all those factors being considered, it is obviously not an ideal time to break in a new quarterback. As mentioned before, Rees isn't completely new to being a starter. He performed more than admirably as a replacement last year, but this will be his first time starting with a healthy Dayne Crist waiting on the sideline.

Despite the change, the quarterback situation in South Bend is still very much in a state of flux. If Rees lays an egg against Michigan. Dayne Crist will likely start in week three against nationally ranked Michigan State. Crist has his fair share of sympathizers. He played badly against USF, but he did not show complete ineptitude. It should also be noted that his bad day came in the midst of a lightning storm that turned the playing field into a marsh. But now what if the high scoring Spartans run the Irish off of the field in week three? What if the likes of MSU's Jerel Worthy, Max Bullough, and Chris Norman dominate the Irish offensive line and render Crist useless? Will Brian Kelly go back to Tommy Rees? That would give Rees his second start on the road against Pittsburgh, a team that always plays Notre Dame tough.(Pitt beat the Irish in 2009 and lost by six last year). Would the Irish even be favored against Pitt at 0-3?

It's no coincidence that the last paragraph included so many question marks. If the Fighting Irish don't find some solid answers for their quarterback questions, they could be 0-4 before they see a favorable matchup (their fifth game is on the road against Purdue, it's pretty generous to call them a "favorable" opponent). A week ago, Notre Dame was talking BCS. The conversation has shifted to "Crist or Rees?" in a matter of days.

It's hard to agree with Brian Kelly's decision to change quarterbacks after one game. It seems very early to deem a quarterback ineffective after a single unflattering appearance that was highly influenced by bad weather. Kelly allowed the two young men to battle throughout the spring and summer, and settled on Crist as his starter less two weeks before opening day. Kelly has now reneged on that decision less than three weeks later.

One could argue that this isn't an ideal way to build a rapport with a team that was recruited mostly by former coach Charlie Weiss, but this isn't Kelly's first go around with using multiple quarterbacks. While coaching at Cincinnati in 2009, Kelly juggled quarterbacks Tony Pike and Zach Collaros with much success after Collaros emerged following an injury to Pike. That team won the Big East and played in the Sugar Bowl. Unfortunately, neither of Kelly's current options seem to possess the talent of Pike (currently in the NFL) or Collaros (2010 1st Team All Big East). Over time, the nation realized that Kelly had two very talented quarterbacks at Cincinnati. This year, Kelly may just simply have two quarterbacks.

Only time will tell if a star will emerge from this murky situation in South Bend, but if the Irish still plan to make a run at the BCS this year, the answer to all of Notre Dame's quarterback questions must be Tommy Rees.