Brian Kelly is facing a lot of tough questions this week after losing to a Tulsa and after the death of an ND student at a football practice.

Despite the obvious questions of why he threw a pass with less than 40 seconds in the game at the 19 yardline of Tulsa when a field goal would have won the game, Kelly's progam does not appear to be improving and there are plenty of questions about the defense, or lack of it.Kelly and his staff has this week and next to think about it as the Irish are off today. They host a top 10 ranked Utah team next Saturday.Kelly's decision to try a pass into the endzone to receiver Michael Floyd can go down as the "bonehead" decision number one of his first year in South Bend. There were so many reasons not to throw the pass. First, you have a freshman quarterback forced into the game unexpectedly in the first quarter when your started goes down. Tommy Rees was doing a creditable job considering the circumstances. What a confidence builder for the young QB to get a win. At the 19 yardline and a second and nine and two running plays to put the ball a little closer in the center of the field for your kicker, David Ruffer, who hasn't missed a field goal in 18 tries over the past two seasons. It was Rees 54th pass of the day, the fifth-most in Irish history. Then Floyd, who saw the pass coming up short, didn't have the forthought to interfere and keep the Tulsa defensive back from catching the ball. A 15 yard penalty for offensive pass interference would be better than turning the ball over.Kelly told the media after the game that if the situation was done over he would not change a thing. He said that is the way he coaches. He said, "We're going to play aggressive. We're going to play smart. If it's not there, we're going to throw it away. We're going to line up on third down and have another shot to get that thing even closer."Kelly added, "Second down, take a shot here." He added, "If we don't like it, let's throw that thing away. Tommy wanted to do all those things. Tommy is a gamer. You saw him competing out there. He knows the deal. He's a quarterback."But Kelly was the one who made the call to throw the ball, not Rees. Dumb call coach.Kelly is still facing questions about the incident that took the life of ND junior Declan Sullivan, who was the team videographer and died when high winds toppled him from a scissor lift apparatus while taping the Wednesday, Oct. 27, practice. Questions include why Kelly called for practice outdoors on such a day with high winds. Kelly responded, "Obviously there's going to be a lot of speculation, there's going to be a lot of questions." He added, "I'm not really adept at being able to handle some of the specifics. I can tell you that we're working hard to get all those answers."The investigation into the incident is being handled by the Indiana authorities, not the university. If, and its a big if, Kelly is found to be somehow negligent in the incident his career at ND will end.We'll take a look at Utah and more on the football program in next week's column.IRISH NOTES:As you known QD Dayne Crist is lost for the season. He underwent surgery last week to repair a torn patella tendon in his left knee. The recovery time is expected to be six months. But he could be ready for the spring drills. The injury also raises of lot of questions for Crist, who has two years of eligibility left. He now has had surgeries on his two knees. Rees is now the number one quarterback and will be working steadily for the next five or more weeks with the first team offense. Also, Crist will be competing for the job with Andrew Hendrix, Luke Massa and Nate Montana. Crist has a decision to make. He could end up third on the dept chart by the time the 2011 season begins. He must decide to stay, get his ND degree, and experience his time at ND. He also has to accept that the people ahead of him are gaining more and more experience with the Kelly's offense, or he could transfer to a Division 1-AA school where the pro-style offense is run. He would be able to play immediately at a Division 1-AA school. On another injury front. Running back Armando Allen underwent surgery last week in Nashville, Tenn., on a hip flexor injury in which there was also cartilage damage. Allen is facing a three to four month recovery period....Tulsa outrushed the Irish, 203-124. ND hasn't lost a game since the Tyrone Willingham Era in which it has outrushed its opponent (23-0)....Kelly was very high on Rees' performance calling it "awesome". Rees did do a creditable job and it does give Kelly and staff some hope. Rees seems to handle the new offense better than Crist. Crist had been struggling in the past three or four weeks with the offense....Notre Dame's No. 1 ranked punt return unit allowed Tulsa to get a 59-yard return for a TD; and the Irish defense, which did not allow an offensive TD after the opening drive of the game, gave up 31 yards on a third and 26 play that led to the go-head field goal for Tulsa....Some game stats. Rees had 38 completions on 54 attempts for 334 yards and four TDs, with three interceptions. Rushing was led by Cierre Wood with 58 yards on 16 rushes. Receiving, Floyd had 11 catches for 104 yards and two TDs and Tyler Eifert, five for 61 yards. On defense Gary Gray had nine tackles and Manti Te'o eight....Kelly would love for the Irish to get a bowl bid. Not for pride or anything like that. Considering the injuries, off-the-field issues the bowl bid would serve nothing more than getting Kelly the 15 more practices allowed by the NCAA leading up to a bowl game....The losses and the questions surrounding the program are starting to affect recruiting. Last Sunday defensive end recruit Aaron Lynch, who earlier backed off somewhat from his verbal committment, has decommitted to shop around a little more. Lynch reportedly has completely eliminated the Irish from his list. He is the second recruit who has decommitted in the last two weeks. Last week I noted Clay Burton, a linebacker from Florida, decommitted and then committed to Florida following the Navy game....A note to area Irish fans. Anyone interested in attending the ND-Navy game in Dublin, Ireland, in 2012 is invited to presentations on the trip starting at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Summit Inn, Lehigh St., in Summit Hill. It is located at the top of the hill as you come from Lansford, and was formerlly the Dew Drop Inn. That is it for this week. At least Irish fans can relax this weekend and enjoy the other games being played.