Notre Dame's injury list just keeps growing and hurting the Irish more.

Notre Dame quarterback Dayne Crist left Saturday's 28-27 loss to Tulsa with a leg injury and his season could be over.

NBC reported that Crist , ruptured the patella tendon in his left knee and is likely out for the season.

After the game, coach Brian Kelly said he wasn't sure the exact nature of the injury, but he said it was pretty severe based on what he saw from Crist after the game.

Kelly also revealed that running back Armando Allen, who leads the team in rushing with 514 yards, might not play again for Notre Dame.

Kelly said Allen has another hip flexor injury and this one could require surgery.

These injuries came on the heels of the Irish losing nose guard Ian Williams for at least four weeks to a knee injury, receiver Theo Riddick being out at least two more weeks with an ankle injury and tight end Kyle Rudolph being down for the season because of a hamstring injury.

That's not even counting the foot injury safety Jamoris Slaughter is trying to play through.

"It seems every medical report I get, it ends with, 'Done for the season,' " Kelly said.

Stepping up

Tommy Rees looked nothing like the quarterback that came in for a couple of series when Crist was knocked out of the first half in Notre Dame's loss to Michigan on Sept. 11.

And that's a good thing.

Rees completed 16 of the first 19 passes he threw Saturday against Tulsa, and he led the Irish on three first-half scoring drives to build a 27-18 lead at the break.

"Play calls, the line, the receivers did a great job," Rees said of his strong start when he came in. "The calls were right. The guys got open, the line protected, my job was easy from there."

Rees completed 33 of 54 passes for 334 yards. He became the first Irish freshman to throw four touchdowns in a game.

But he did throw three interceptions, including the one that ended the game when he under threw Michael Floyd in the right corner of the end zone.

Still, Kelly was happy with what he saw from his freshman quarterback.

"Awesome. Are you kidding me?" Kelly said of Rees' performance. "I couldn't be more happy for the kid. True freshman going out there, hasn't played. He just competes.

"He took some big hits, got right back up. I don't know if he knew where he was a couple of times. Got right back up, said some things. I knew that he was going to compete again.

He's a competitive kid. He loves to play."

Get used to it

Rees' final throw Saturday will be the most scrutinized game decision Kelly made this season.

With Notre Dame trailing by a point, the Irish were able to get to the Golden Hurricane 19-yard line with 42 seconds left.

Kelly called a timeout, and the next play was a pass to Floyd in the right corner of the end zone.

But Rees under threw the pass, and John Flanders picked it off in the end zone.

"We pretty much over and under, cloud covered, what we called cloud coverage," Tulsa coach Todd Graham said of covering Floyd on the last play. "We were cloud number three.We did that to Floyd most of the game, just trying to disrupt him. We basically were calling what we call cloud bracket coverage. Our corner had him over the top. He did what he's coached to do. He had great positioning on the ball. The ball looked to be just a little bit under‑thrown and he was able to make a play on it.

"I'll be real honest with you. When I seen the ball get thrown, I was scared to death because you got the best receiver in the country going up."

Kelly disputed that Floyd was double covered on the play, and even though Notre Dame kicked David Ruffer has converted all 18 field goals he's ever attempted, Kelly said the same call would be made in that situation.

"Why not try to get Michael Floyd one-on-one against a (5-foot-9) corner and call a timeout, here is what we're going to do," Kelly said. "Second down, take a shot here. 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.

"Again, to me this is how we play. 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. But I would make the call again, and I would hope that the process of learning would have a different outcome."