Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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30 AUGUST 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY BRYAN DRISKELL N otre Dame was dynamic on offense for much of coordina- tor Chip Long's first season in South Bend. The Fighting Irish ranked 21st nationally in yards per play (6.4) and 24th in scoring (34.2 points per game), but it was the outstanding ground attack that paved the way. Long's unit ranked seventh in the country with 269.5 rushing yards per game and third with a program-best 6.25 yards per rush. An erratic and inconsistent pass- ing attack ultimately served as an anchor, dragging down the offense when it mattered most. Notre Dame ranked 101st nationally in passing ef- ficiency (120.28 rating) and 102nd in passing yards per game (178.9). Heading into year two of Long's tenure, the Irish offense must become more balanced, which means its aer- ial attack must get a lot better. An upgraded passing game will make the entire offense more dangerous and effective. "It's the ongoing chess match with the defense," Long explained. "If they are in two-high [safeties] we should be able to run the ball or play- action them quite a bit. If they want to drop a safety in the box it opens up your pass game. … You always want to be an explosive team that what- ever type of coverage the defense is in we are going to attack it." When the passing game was able to generate big plays last season, the offense flourished. Wimbush com- pleted 5 of 6 passes to start the game against Michigan State, which put the Spartans' defense on its heels and led to a 38-18 victory. The same was true in Notre Dame's 49-14 win over USC, when Wimbush delivered back- to-back touchdown passes on the second and third drives of the game. The inability to do that on a game- by-game basis stalled the attack in November. "We had a lot of explosive plays [last season], but it was the consistency of going down the field [that was lack- ing]," Long said. "It caused us to start turning the ball over a lot more than we did the first nine games. When you do that and you're not as good at certain things, it will show up." After turning the ball over only seven times in the first nine contests, the Irish offense gave it up 10 times in the final four games — seven of them in losses to Miami (Fla.) and Stanford. "You have to be able to win games more than one way to win a champi- onship, and that's what we're build- ing," Long stated. Much of the focus last season was on Wimbush, who completed just 49.5 percent of his passes. The dis- appointing season from the wide receiver corps didn't help matters. In 13 games, the Notre Dame pass AIR ASSAULT Notre Dame must develop an explosive passing attack in 2018 Getting better production from the aerial attack — the Irish ranked 101st nationally in passing efficiency last fall — will make coordinator Chip Long's second Irish offense more effective. PHOTO BY COREY BODDEN