Quarterback Tommy Rees expected to start for Irish against BYU

Greetings from Notre Dame Stadium here in chilly, overcast South Bend, Ind. We're about 2 1/2 hours away from kickoff between the Cougars and No. 5-ranked Irish.

Lots of dark clouds in the area, so I wouldn't be surprised if we see some rain here today.

Perhaps the biggest news I can pass along with this first blog post is that the word here in the press box is that Tommy Rees will get the start at quarterback today for the Fighting Irish. Coach Brian Kelly said Thursday night that it would be a game-time decision between Rees and Everett Golson, the freshman.

My hunch is that BYU prepared more for Golson, and was hoping to see Golson because the Cougars handled the last mobile QB they faced, USU's Chuckie Keeton. They struggled against a dropback guy like Rees — Oregon State's Cody Vaz.

I just took a long stroll around campus, and was sort of surprised to see so many BYU fans here. It will be interesting to see once everyone gets into the stadium whether they make a dent in this crowd of 80,000. By the way, Notre Dame Stadium is as old-school as you can get: No signage of any kind, no video boards, no logos at midfield, and lots and lots of benches.

In fact, there are probably fewer than 1,000 chair seats in this place. However, there are flowers. Bright rows of yellow flowers are behind both benches. Can't say I've ever seen them on TV, but they are there in all their glory.