Notre Dame Football Under Brian Kelly: The Story of Turnovers
By Andrew Hall
Last year, turnovers dashed any chance of Notre Dame landing in the College Football Playoff or any of the “New Year’s Six” bowls. Notre Dame Quarterback Everett Golson turned the ball over 22 times in 2014. Turnovers tell the story and the future of Brian Kelly’s tenure in South Bend.
The turnover margin illustrates Notre Dame’s success. The exact number of wins does not directly correlate to number of turnovers. However, the margin indicates how well Notre Dame performs on the field.
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In 2010, Notre Dame won 8 games. The Irish turned the ball over on 24 occasions while forcing 25 turnovers (0.08 turnovers/game). The following season, Brian Kelly’s squad won 8 games. The Fighting Irish held a -15 turnover margin (-1.15 turnovers/game). In 2012, the best season under Brian Kelly, Notre Dame turned in a 0.62 margin per game. The Fighting Irish won 9 games in 2013. Notre Dame finished with a 0.00 turnovers per contest margin. In 2014, the Irish completed the year with a -0.23 turnover margin.
If Brian Kelly plans on playing for the National Title in 2015, he must win the turnover battle. Under Kelly, Notre Dame never finished the season ranked higher than 29th in this category. When the Irish did finish 29th, the team played in the BCS National Championship Game.
9 of the Top 10 teams in the turnover margin category finished with winning records. Obviously, this category does not show that a team will definitely be successful. However, a positive turnover margin helps a team become more successful. A negative margin only hurts a team’s chances.
This year’s game against Arizona State provides an excellent case study. The Irish finished the contest with a -4 margin. Notre Dame rallied from a 34-3 deficit to make the score 34-31 with 6:37 remaining. Clearly, Notre Dame outplayed the Sun Devils for the majority of game. The Irish may have been the better team but turnover doomed any chance of victory.
A healthy Irish football team can protect the football by relieving the pressure on the Quarterback’s shoulders. All Quarterbacks failed to properly run Kelly’s “Quarterback-centric” Offense.
Irish Quarterbacks threw more than 13 interceptions in every season under Kelly other than 2012. In 2012, Brian Kelly did not ask Redshirt Freshman Quarterback Everett Golson to do more than he was capable of.
Golson or Zaire can both do more than Golson in 2012. But, Brian Kelly, Mike Sanford and Mike Denbrock must take the pressure off the shoulders of the starting Quarterback in order for Notre Dame to have a successful 2015 season.