Notre Dame is currently ranked dead last in turnover margin. If you’re reading this and didn’t already know that, welcome to earth. Enjoy your stay. Avoid the hotter climates, they tend towards violence.

Anyway, yes, dead last in turnover margin, and tied for dead last with Tulsa for turnovers lost. So while there may be some value in nuanced discussion over the Irish philosophy of gap discipline and good tackling over strip attempts, the undeniable truth is that the Irish offense is largely to blame for the turnover discrepancy, and, given the talk-of-the-Irish-town lately, many, while discussing this plight, cast their eyes in as disapproving a manner as they possibly can towards Tommy Rees.

Rees, afterall, has been the victim of a few terrible fumbles – one of which was apparently caused by one of those echoes we always talk about, sick of being awakened prematurely. And so too has Rees been the victim of some terrible decisions – his own – while executing the passing game (and it’s amazing that he can keep executing it and it keeps coming back for more, amiright!?).

But patience, my fine Irish friends. I come bearing great news! Rees is actually improving!

And the proof is in the numbers. Take a look at ’em. (You can check out the source data-sheet here. Raw, total passes between INTs data is here.)







What you’re looking at is a chart of rolling averages of pass attempts Rees made between interceptions. In this case, the bars represent the average number of pass attempts between the last 3 interceptions Rees has thrown in “starts.” (And yes, we’re counting the 2010 Tulsa game and the 2011 Michigan game just to go ahead and avoid the popular Notre Dame Internet FanFight.)

You see a trend right? Because it’s there. First of all, note the last bar on the right. It’s got “???” under it because it represents the number of throws Rees has had since his last interception. In other words, even if he throws a pick on his first attempt against Purdue this weekend, that last bar will still represent the highest rolling average across Rees’ career as a “starter” at Notre Dame. (Note: Utah and the bowl game vs. Miami aren’t on the chart because Rees threw no interceptions in those games.)

Granted, a rolling average of 29.33 pass attempts per pick is hardly stellar (Brady Quinn, in 2006, set a ND record of 226 consecutive passes without an interception – his 3 INT rate was stellar.), but it is improvement. And if Rees continues on this current trend (or, if you will, streak), and manages to complete 10-20 more passes before his next interception, his rolling average attempts between his last 3 interceptions will look pretty average compared to the current attempts/interceptions across Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks. Stellar? No, but improving.

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