Notre Dame's football program is floundering. There is no leadership from head coach Brian Kelly on down. Last week's loss to Navy, 28-27, goes a long way in proving that, in my opinion. Notre Dame is headed for one of its worst football seasons ever and Kelly does not know what to do.

Kelly and staff played a major role in the loss with his play calling. The defense was also unable to stop Navy's run game when they had too. Navy also got a little help from the officials in the game. With ND leading, 24-21, it forced Navy into its first and only punting situation on the day. But the Irish were call for having 12 men on the field. After a review by the officials, they determined that safety Devin Studstill was not off the field when Navy snapped the ball for the punt. Navy got a first down and eventually converted a touchdown.A research of the rule by the South Bend Tribune staff showed that the officials made the wrong call. The rule, which was reprinted in the SBT, indicates if the player leaving the field in such a situation that his next step would be off the field, there is no call. ND could not ask for a review of the rule because it wasn't a reviewable situation.But that alone did not result in the ND loss. It was poor coaching, more mental errors and poor play by the Irish special teams. As the season heads for a thankful conclusion, the Irish, at 3-6, are headed for one of its worst seasons in a long, long time. Only three games remain, today against Army, the final home game in South Bend next week with Virginia Tech, then the trip to Los Angeles and USC. ND's only realistic chance for a win is today and today is far from a given.SBT columnist Al Lesar called the penalty for 12 men on the field another of a "season's worth of boneheaded plays by the special teams." Lesar also took Kelly to task for his "misplaced confidence in his defense." With a fourth and four at the Navy 14, trailing, 28-24, and just about eight minutes to play, it was time for a bold move as a promising season had slipped away.Instead, Kelly booted a field goal to make it 28-27 Navy. At that point ND was nine of 13 on third down conversions and one for one on fourth down conversions. It was time to go for the first down or a score and take the lead. Up to that point ND only had the ball two times the entire second half as Navy's offense was playing keep away very successfully. That was the situation that Kelly decided to bank on, despite the statistics that indicated Navy's offense was pushing the Irish defense all over the field and not surrendering the pigskin. Kelly blew another one.More on the game later.Today the Irish face a 5-4 Army team that runs the same offense as Navy and plays keep-away with its opponents. The Black Knights ranked sixth nationally in total defense allowing just 286.4 yards per game. Army is fifth in pass defense and 24th in rushing defense. Army allows 13.6 first downs per game, which ranks second nationally behind No. 1 Alabama. Army's overall defense is ranked sixth in the country. All this is bad news for ND.Army's five wins include Temple, 28-13; Rice, 31-14; Texas-El Paso, 66-14; Lafayette, 62-7; and Wake Forest, 21-13. The four losses were to Buffalo, 23-20 in overtime; Duke, 13-6; North Texas, 35-18; and last week to Air Force, 31-12.With the triple-option attack the quarterback leads the way. This week it's Ahmad Bradshaw who has rushed for 713 yards on 147 carries and five touchdowns. He has completed 33 of 77 passes with eight interceptions and three scores. Other running backs featured are Andy Davidson (710 yards on 132 carries, seven scores) and Dornell Woolfolk (255 yards on 63 and six scores). Army's top receivers are Edgar Poe and his brother Christian Poe.ND leads the series, 38-8-4. ND has won 14 in a row in the series with the last Irish win in 2010, 27-3. The last Army win was in 1958, 14-2.The game will be televised nationally by NBC-TV with a 3:40 p.m. kickoff from the Alamodome, in San Antonia, Texas. This is a Shamerock Series game, an ND home game away from home.IRISH NOTES ... You can tell when a team's fans start to lose interest. Tickets for today's game, originally priced in the range of $45 to $250, were going for as low as $19 on the Internet and othe such sites .... After an outstanding game against Miami, nose tackle Jarron Jones had little playing time last week. Jones ended up with zero tackles against Navy. Kelly said it was the way Navy ran its offense to the perimeter and away from Jones. That is odd since Jones had excellent games in 2013 and 2015 with option offenses. He missed last year's Navy game due to an injury .... DeShone Kizer finally got back on track last week completing 19 of 27 passes for 233 yards and three touchdowns in just six Irish offensive possessions. He ranks 23rd nationally in passing efficiency after falling to 35th in prior weeks. He is on track to being one of the best ND quaraterbacks, in a long list of great QBs. His stats are great but the win-loss record is not good. Many feel he will leave ND after the season for the NFL. He is considered a first-round pick in the 2017 NFA draft ... Kelly came into this season at 42-18-2 in his career in games decided by three or fewer points. He is 1-3 this year. In games decided by seven or fewer points he is 75-33-2. This year 1-5 .... As I mentioned last week, ND has to be 6-6 or better for bowl eligibility meaning they must win their last three games to accomplish that. However, it was noted in other media publications, with so many bowl game slots to fill, teams with non-winning records are getting bids to fill those slots ... Torri Hunter Jr. had his best game of the season last week, hauling in eight passes for 104 yards and a TD, despite sitting out a portion of the game due to a injury. He shook off the injury and returned to the game later .... The homecoming for wide receiver Kevin Stepherson was a success. Stepherson caught four passes for 48 yards. He played his high school ball at First Coast High in Jacksonville .... Freshman cornerback Julian Love and junior safety Drue Tranquill, both of whom left last Saturday's game with concussion symptoms have been cleared to play today. Tranquill had four tackles against Navy, Love a career-high eight with a tackle for loss. ... Former ND standout quarterback Rick Mirer's oldest of three sons, Morrison, signed a national letter-of-intent this week with the Irish to play lacrosse. He played both football and lacrosse at Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego .... In my preseason picks I have the Irish winning today, but things have changed, as I mentioned some weeks ago. Army presents the same problem for ND as Navy, only a defense rated much better than the Middies. ND is favored by 11 basically due to the comparison of schedules between ND and Army. My pick today is Army. I just think Brian Kelly has lost control of the season and the team.