Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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52 PRESEASON 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED CLOSER LOOK BRYAN DRISKELL T wo truths have emerged d u r i n g h e a d c o a c h Brian Kelly's first nine years in South Bend. One is that Notre Dame has shown the ability to recruit and develop cham- pionship-caliber defenses, which it did in 2012 and 2018. Two is that the Fight- ing Irish have yet to put a championship-caliber of- fense on the field. Consistency on defense has been an issue, but the Irish are at the point where they are right on the cusp of fielding a truly elite de- fense. Offensively, there is a much further to go before that can be said. In the first five years of the College Football Playoff, all five winners have aver- aged at least 35.1 points per game. Four of those five national champions aver- aged at least 37.1 points per game, and Ohio State (44.8) in 2014 and Clemson (44.3) last season topped the 40 mark. In comparison, the Irish have never averaged more than 34.2 points per game during Kelly's tenure in South Bend. There is, however, optimism that Notre Dame will feature a more ex- plosive offense in 2019. If the Irish are going to be a legitimate title con- tender, they must become far better at putting points on the board. The reason behind the belief this could be Kelly's best offense is the potential for more dynamic playmak- ers in the passing game. The Irish have a lot of speed at wide receiver and running back, which could lead to more big plays this fall. If that proves to be accurate, it will have a major impact on the entire offense, and here's why: 1. It takes the pressure off Ian Book: Notre Dame had a far more efficient offense in 2018 compared to 2017, but the 2017 unit scored almost three more points per game because it was more explosive. Last season there was a lot of pressure on Book, who had to con- sistently lead the offense on longer drives. If you dive deep into the stats of the Cotton Bowl, you'll find that Notre Dame's defense was just as effective as Clemson's, if not more so, on the vast majority of the snaps. What separated the two teams was Clemson's ability to rip off big plays. Clemson had five plays of at least 30 yards, including three touchdowns of at least 42 yards. The Tigers averaged just 4.3 yards per play on its other 73 snaps in the game. Notre Dame, on the other hand, had just two plays of more than 20 yards, and its longest play from scrimmage was just 23 yards. Notre Dame ran at least 69 snaps in 12 of its 13 games last season, while Clemson had that number in just 10 of 15 games and national runner-up Alabama (45.6 points per game) had that number of snaps in just eight of 15 games. The quick-strike ability of those offenses allowed them to score a lot more points while running fewer plays. A more dynamic offense, especially in the pass game, takes the pressure off Book to consistently move the ball down the field in such an efficient manner. Con- sider that Book averaged 34.6 pass attempts per game in his nine starts, while Ala- bama quarterback Tua Ta- govailoa averaged just 23.7 throws per start and Okla- homa quarterback Kyler Murray averaged just 26.9 throws per game. The more throws a quar- terback has to make, the greater the odds that mis- takes will eventually be made. 2. It forces defenses to spread out, making it eas- ier to run the football: The more success the Irish have on the perimeter, the harder it is for defenses to remain focused on defending the inside run game. Last sea- son, teams were able to fo- cus more on the run game due to Notre Dame's lack of big-play weapons in the passing game. With senior Chase Claypool as the go-to weapon, and the emergence of junior Michael Young plus soph- omores Braden Lenzy, Lawrence Keys III, Kevin Austin Jr. at wideout and sophomore Tommy Tremble at tight end, the Irish offense is expected to have significantly more vertical threats and after-the-catch weapons. The more effective the perimeter passing game proves to be, the more you'll see teams start to use their safeties to protect against the out- side. That makes running the football much easier, because it evens up the numbers in the run game. If an offense with the line talent that Notre Dame possesses can even up the numbers in the run game it will be incredibly difficult to defend, no matter the opponent. ✦ Irish Passing Attack Needs More Playmakers Bryan Driskell has been a football analyst for Blue & Gold Illustrated since April 2015. He can be reached at bdriskell@blueandgold.com. Notre Dame is hoping that its wide receivers will help take some of the pres- sure off senior quarterback Ian Book. PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL