Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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54 OCT. 15, 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED M icrowave ovens, instant cof- fee, drive-through restau- rants, drive-through cha- pels, instant messaging … all in the name of "I want it now!!!" There was a time when research I would do would take hours, if not days, and even required waiting on postal delivery. Now, with the press of the button to "Google," I usu- ally have voluminous data within minutes. While this affords a wonderful convenience, it also has heightened a culture of instant gratification. In some areas of this world, though, there isn't always a quick fix. One of them is quarterback/ football development. Regardless, in some way or another … we all want it now! E ve n B r i a n K e l l y r e p l a c e d anointed 2011 starter Dayne Crist with Tommy Rees after one half. He wants it now. Four games and 9 Rees turnovers (6 interceptions and 3 fumbles) later, outcries in cyberspace and elsewhere were vociferous. "Rees is a turnover machine, and be- cause he can't run the read option in the spread, the Irish are playing with one hand tied behind their back!" "Why the double standard? Give Crist another chance!" "Where are Andrew Hendrix and Ev- erett Golson? Why aren't they getting a chance to run special packages for the future?" I don't know the answer to all these inquiries, but I do know his intangibles are what have kept Rees on the field. I have immense respect for his moxie, but I'm not necessarily a devotee of the "he's 6-1 (or whatever) as a starter" rhetoric. Paul Hornung and Daryle La- monica were quarterbacks on 2-8 teams at Notre Dame, and that didn't make them "losers" any more than they were suddenly "winners" (Lamonica has one of the top five winning percentages in NFL history as a starting quarterback) at the next level. It's a team sport, and it's also about timing. Think John Hua- rte had Ara Parseghian not arrived in 1964. In one post I noticed, it was men- tioned how abhorrent it was that Rees already had thrown 13 interceptions in his first 263 career passes. Thus, I wanted to see where my four Notre Dame icon quarterbacks that I grew up with were after their first 263 throws: • Joe Theismann (1968-70) had 21 in- terceptions after his first 263 throws. As a junior, he was 4-of-12 passing for 7 yards in a loss at Purdue. After his junior year, the Notre Dame student magazine Scholastic had this assessment of The- ismann: "Don't be surprised if No. 7 [Theismann] isn't on the field when ND opens with Northwestern next year." • Tom Clements also had 21 intercep- tions after his first 263 throws. In his 11th start, a 40-6 drubbing from Ne- braska in the Orange Bowl, he was 9-of- 22 passing with 3 interceptions and to- taled minus-22 yards rushing. What did Parseghian see in that guy? • Would you believe in just his first 103 passes Joe Montana already had 11 interceptions? After 263 throws he had 16 interceptions, and he was still com- pleting less than 50 percent. That guy won't amount to much. • Tony Rice actually only had 15 in- terceptions after 263 passes, but he opened his junior year completing 5 of 21 through the air in the first two games. That Lou Holtz was an idiot for sticking with him. Please don't misunderstand. No- body is saying Rees is or will be a clone of any of those four. The guess here is he might be more in the Rick Slager, Terry Andrysiak or Matt LoVecchio genre in that he serves as a quality buffer while being the best option at the time. How it will play out is uncertain but it's the Holtz WIN principle — What's Important Now, as opposed to I Want It Now. "He's obviously not a finished product — nobody is," Kelly said of Rees. Yes, because on occasion there will still be struggles along the way, with Rees or any other QB on the roster. It's called competition, and it's more a matter of damage control sometimes. Even as a senior, Theismann saw his defense hold the fort in back-to-back 10-7 and 3-0 wins against Georgia Tech and LSU. Even as a senior, Clements and the of- fense struggled to wins by scores of 10-3 (Rice), 14-6 (Navy) and 14-10 (Pitt). Today we reminisce in awe of Mon- tana's "Chicken Soup Game," the 35-34 miracle comeback against Houston in which he completed 6 of his last 7 passes … but conveniently forget the Irish were behind 34-12 in the first place because he was 7 of 27 with 4 intercep- tions. Montana later lost a fumble when it was 34-28, but the defense saved the day with a fourth-and-1 stop (special teams also started the Irish scoring). Maybe someday we'll reminisce more about Rees going 8-of-8 passing for 74 yards on the game-winning drive this year at Pitt instead of the blooper first three quarters. Sometimes gratification just has to be put off until later. ✦ Tony Rice had 15 interceptions after his first 263 passes and opened his junior year in 1988 by completing only 5 of 21 passes in the first two games. Despite his rocky start, the Irish went on to win the national championship. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS BEST OF THE FIFTH QUARTER ✦ LOU SOMOGYI ✦ OCT. 10, 2011 A Culture Of Instant Gratification EDITOR'S NOTE: The late, great Lou Somogyi possessed an unmatched knowledge of Notre Dame football, and it was his mission in life to share it with others. Those of us at Blue & Gold Illustrated would like to continue to provide his wisdom and unique perspective from his more than 37 years covering the Fighting Irish for this publication.