Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 SEPT. 26, 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME One of Notre Dame's pri- mary topics since last De- cember 's change of offen- sive coordinator from Chip Long to quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees was what dif- ferent wrinkles, if any, might be incorporated. Some insight arose in the 27-13 victory versus Duke. The first was a change in blocking scheme to more outside zone — which head coach Brian Kelly has indi- cated will be the base of this year's running attack. This had been run previ- ously in Kelly's scheme, and was particularly an effective staple when current All-Pro Zack Martin and current Fighting Irish offensive line graduate assistant Chris Watt were on the left side blocking for then quarter- back Rees. The play involves more reading direction than hitting a designated hole. A running back must make correct decisions in finding the right seams. The more recent pin-and-pull scheme had different rules for the offensive linemen. "I would say one of the things we didn't really do a good job in last year and in previous years was kind of trusting outside zone," fifth-year senior and third-year starting left tackle Liam Eichenberg said. "That's one of the things Coach Rees wants to run — and we need to run — to be an efficient offense. "And also we've incorporated mid-zone, which we haven't done in the past. … We run it completely different now. Running outside zone and having the back press it really gets the defense moving a lot more." According to Eichenberg, the scheme fits the current personnel better, especially with a new one- two punch at running back featur- ing sophomore Kyren Williams and freshman speedster Chris Tyree. In- corporating a more effective screen game also has been a priority. "The past couple of years haven't been great for us [with screen plays]," Eichenberg said. "It's just one of those weird things we haven't been able to get down." Despite beginning the Duke opener with three three-and-out series, Rees stayed patient and commit- ted to the run. "One of the tough things is you practice something against the scout team, and then [what] shows up in the game is completely differ- ent," Eichenberg said. "You have to adjust to personnel. "… Something with [Rees] is he's going to stick to what he wants to do. Even if it doesn't work the first cou- ple of times, he's going to keep pounding it. It's bound to work eventually. When it does work, then it opens up opportunities elsewhere because now they have to cover that, watch out for that." Finding the rhythm for the newly emphasized scheme, without a spring to incorpo- rate it, will require more repetition. While "halftime adjustments" is always a popular term to use in turnarounds such as the Duke game, Kelly emphasized the better success had to be thanks to a collaborative effort, and not just on the line. "We probably overstate it," Kelly said of adjustments. "We had a run- ning back that was seeing things for the first time. It's execution at other positions as well. "The quarterback, wide receivers and running backs all have to be ex- ecuting at a high level, which wasn't the case. We had a missed protection [including blitz pickup], we had a dropped ball, we had a misread. … It's not simply about making half- time adjustments. "… We were a big pin-and-pull team last year; we featured the out- side zone play as our primary block- ing scheme [against Duke], and that requires patience, seeing things and aiming points. I thought Coach Rees did a great job of being patient and sticking with the running game after not having success early on." — Lou Somogyi JOE FARRELL: 1942-2020 The starting senior fullback on Notre Dame's famed 1964 "Resurrection" team passed away in his native Chicago area on Sept. 7. Farrell was third on that team in rushing with 387 yards on 93 carries with three scores, and also caught six passes for 84 yards and a touchdown. Following five straight years of not finishing above .500, including 2-7 the year prior, the 1964 unit started 9-0 and was ranked No. 1 under first-year head coach Ara Parseghian before a heartbreaking 11th-hour loss at USC in the finale. The National Football Foundation that year still awarded the Fighting Irish the MacArthur Bowl, emblematic of a national title. Farrell also was the second-leading rusher for the 5-5 team in 1962 with 278 yards on 70 carries with four scores, and started at halfback in 1963 before returning to fullback as a senior. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Joan, five children and nine grandchildren. — Lou Somogyi Fifth-year senior Liam Eichenberg and his fellow linemen paved the way for 178 rushing yards against Duke, with the Irish featuring more of their out- side zone blocking scheme. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS Offensive Line Attempting To Find Its (Outside) Zone