NCAA Football Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Notre Dame Football’s Open QB Competition A Smart Decision

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By @NickCWilder

Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football

Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

The start of the 2014 college football season couldn’t have gone much better for Notre Dame starting quarterback Everett Golson. However, after opening the year 6-0 and Golson being in the thick of the Heisman race, the Fighting Irish dropped five of their last six games. A major reason for their collapse was due to Golson committing a number of turnovers and struggling with confidence.

The senior quarterback was eventually benched in Notre Dame’s final regular season game, a loss to rival USC, in favor of sophomore Malik Zaire. As the team prepares for their unfavorable matchup with LSU in the Music City Bowl, head coach Brian Kelly also wisely decided to make the quarterback position an open competition.

In the next couple of weeks, Kelly will continue to evaluate the two quarterbacks’ practice habits and performance before making the final decision. He referred to the situation as a true competition and said both Golson and Zaire will have an equal chance at proving themselves worthy of starting for the Fighting Irish on Dec. 30.

Both signal callers do have a history of being in a quarterback competition, which was actually earlier this year in the preseason. For the most part, though, the competition was merely formal. Golson was returning from an academic suspension in 2013 and wasn’t all that close to losing the starting job.

This time around, Kelly clearly stated that the current competition is not “artificial.” Regardless of Golson’s history, which includes leading Notre Dame to a National Championship appearance in 2013, he will have to win this competition outright in order to be named starter.

It’s unclear at this stage when Kelly will exactly decide who the starting quarterback will be against LSU. Nevertheless, the competition between the two quarterbacks does provide a measure of excitement and intrigue for the team, two factors that Notre Dame certainly welcomes after their difficult ending to the regular season.

Nick Wilder is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickCWilder and add him to your network on Google. 

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