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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish had a brief moment of quarterback controversy that was stomped out immediately following their game against the Purdue Boilermakers. Starter Everett Golson went down with an injury after a fumble with 3:24 left in the game and Tommy Rees entered, leading the Fighting Irish to a scoring drive that won them the game.
Matt Rybaltowski of CBS Sports reports that Golson will be the starter against Michigan State on Saturday. Head coach Brian Kelly said that Golson had trouble gripping the ball, and that he trusted in Rees to lead the team on a two-minute drill to get the points they needed to win the game. Rees says he wasn't caught up in the whole moment about getting back onto the field since losing his starting job:
"I was just thinking, 'We've got to win this game,' I wasn't caught up in the whole moment," Rees told NBC. "We just had to put together a drive to get into field-goal range or get a touchdown. (We just) had to find a way to win this game and not let it get into overtime."
The controversy wasn't just because Rees came back to win the game, it's because he was the starter for the Fighting Irish prior to this season. Notre Dame had a quarterback battle prior to the start of the season for Week 1 as Rees was suspended for the opener. Golson won that battle over Andrew Hendrix and kept the job after his Week 1 performance.