Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 7, 2020 19 thing you see on the schedule, see it circled." "That was implicit in that con- versation without having to say, 'Hey guys, in a couple weeks, we have to play Clemson, wink, wink, wink,'" Kelly added. Notre Dame can't control some of the reasons Clemson will be favored — like the Tigers' overall talent with or without star quar- terback Trevor Lawrence — but it left Pittsburgh looking like a team that has a shot at a win. The passing offense awoke and deliv- ered chunk plays. Notre Dame was productive on the ground when it needed to be against a stout defense. Both of those are ingredients in whatever the recipe is for a win on Nov. 7. A 42-point win speaks for itself. Notre Dame did plenty well. It had an edge. A strut in its step. A desire to prove to themselves and to the nation that the top-five ranking isn't a balloon inflated b y g o o d - b u t - n o t - d o m i n a n t w i n s a g a i n s t middling Power Five teams stray- ing too close to an open door of a butcher shop. "It hyped us up a little bit," Hamilton said of Kelly's change in tone. "We stopped going into games thinking, 'OK, let's get a win this week one week at a time.' He has confidence in us and gave off the message that we're a good team and we're trying to win games — but we're trying to win games by a lot and dominate. "His message put something in our minds saying 12-7 wins over Louisville, we need to do better than that and we are better than that. We showed it last week and hopefully we continue on this week." Notre Dame's Halloween game at Georgia Tech was a favorable setup to flex its muscles once again and head into Clemson on the ideal trajectory. If Pitt was about lighting the flames, this game was about throwing more gas on them. Or as Kelly put it, "continue to ascend." That means reaffirming the im- pressive day against Pitt wasn't a one-off, that the apparent long- awaited synergy between Book and his receivers is here to stay and a defense that doubled its season turnover total can gen- erate takeaways with more fre- quency. Heightened pass-rush productivity is surely at the top of Kelly's wish list. Above all, Notre Dame's pass- ing game needed to be more of a threat to have a chance at a title, and therein a victory over Clem- son. Book admitted to his frustra- tion after a 106-yard game against Louisville, the lowest output in his 28 career starts. He missed reads he shouldn't miss, he said. He turned around and aver- aged 19.5 yards per pass at Pitt. He pushed the ball. He trusted his receivers, particularly fifth-year senior wideout Ben Skowronek and freshman tight end Michael Mayer. Book threw the pass on Skowronek's 73-yard touch- down about five yards before Skowronek even looked back for it, and tossed a 14-yard touch- down to Mayer in traffic after initially missing him. Book's perfor- mance, a now- healthy Skowronek's emergence and a growing role for Mayer took some of the sting out of ex- pected top receiver Kevin Austin Jr.'s season-ending injury and an- other hamstring issue for speed threat Braden Lenzy. For the first time this year, the passing game truly felt like a trusted weapon. "It's just the right time for it," Book said. "We want to keep do- ing it every week. We don't want to have a season that's up and down, up and down. "A win is a win, but we want to win in the right fashion." A step back and embrace of what's next sparked a victory that sure fit the criteria. "If you're always under a mi- croscope, you can't really see the big picture," junior linebacker Bo Bauer said. "Together, it just re- ally helped us focus on our long- term goals while not forgetting being in the moment is key to our success." ✦ "It just really helped us focus on our long-term goals while not forgetting being in the moment is key to our success." JUNIOR LINEBACKER BO BAUER ON KELLY'S MESSAGE OF ACCEPTING LOOKING AHEAD Playing To One's Personnel In 2009, head coach Brian Kelly's Cincinnati Bearcats finished last in the nation in time of possession with only 25:46 per game. It was filed into the "Stats That Don't Matter" cat- egory while finishing the regular season 12-0 and catch- ing the eye of the University of Notre Dame to be named the new head coach that December. The Bearcats' success was built around a quick-strike offense that finished fourth nationally in scoring (38.6 points per game) and eighth in passing yards per game (308.8). Quarterback Tony Pike and the receiving trio of Mardy Gilyard, Armon Binns and D.J. Woods would all land on NFL rosters. Just over a decade later, Kelly's 5-0 Fighting Irish were second in the country in time of possession per game (34:11) among teams that have played at least four games through Oct. 24. How is that? It is the most elementary aspect of coaching: Play to your strengths, and try to mask your deficiencies. The strengths include the most experienced returning offensive line in school history, future NFL tight ends and a savvy third-year starter at quarterback. The concern has been a wideout corps that has been ravaged by graduation, injuries and some inexperience. Through five games, Notre Dame's No. 3 tight end, se- nior Brock Wright played more snaps (158) than senior Avery Davis, the player with the second-most snaps at receiver (132). Junior Tommy Tremble and freshman Mi- chael Mayer had become mainstays at tight end where they had to be on the field. If so inclined, Kelly could put four or five receivers out every play, but that would be misusing assets. "This is strictly about personnel and making sure that you are playing the kind of football that is geared to- ward the strength of your offense," Kelly said. "We said from day one that this should be centered around the offensive line and the tight end, which is the strength. "If I had Will Fuller, Chase Claypool and Miles Boykin and TJ Jones … Michael Floyd and whoever, we might be in four wide receivers and throwing." This year's offense includes limiting or not using a tempo attack. Kelly said there were two dozen plays for such an offense last season. "We've pared that down considerably, because we're really going to be focusing a lot more on multiple forma- tions," he explained. "And when you get into multiple formations in motion, it's hard to play fast, quite frankly." Part of that is because the multiple tight end align- ments are moved around frequently in their forma- tions to create the best matchups possible against the defense. "In playing fast, you have to be in a much more static alignment, lining up and playing fast," Kelly said. "We're moving our tight ends around. We want to get into lev- eraged positions with our tight ends. … Consequently, you're not going to be in as many of those hurry-up situations or tempo situations." As continuity builds at receiver, they will appear more in the alignments. For now, the comfort zone is with the tight ends. — Lou Somogyi