Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1418303
14 OCT. 23, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Notre Dame is widely considered one of the most prominent offensive line factories in college football. The NFL is loaded with former Fighting Irish blockers, from the Dallas Cowboys' Zack Martin to the Indianapolis Colts' Quenton Nelson and plenty of others. Notre Dame has not always ranked among the nation's best in a key sta- tistic that is often used to define an offensive line's level of play, though. The Irish have only ranked in the top 10 in sacks allowed once during Brian Kelly's 11-year tenure. This season, Kelly's 12th in South Bend, is on pace to be Notre Dame's worst season in that statistic since the coach arrived over a decade ago. The Irish allowed 22 sacks through their first five games. If Notre Dame con- tinues to allow roughly 4.5 sacks per game, then they'll have allowed over 50 at the end of a 12-game regular season. The most sacks Notre Dame has ever allowed in a single season during the Kelly era was 30 in 2017. At the rate sacks have been per- mitted through five games, the Irish will surpass that mark by the end of the seventh contest this fall. I ro n i c a l l y, N o t re Dame turned in its best game of the season in terms of sacks given up against Cincinnati — the Irish's first loss of the season. The team only allowed one sack against the Bearcats. Notre Dame allowed at least four in each of the first four games of the sea- son, and it allowed a season high of six twice (Florida State and Wisconsin). Notre Dame has struggled to find any sort of continuity along the of- fense line this year. Starting left tackle Blake Fisher was injured in the first game, and backup Mi- chel Carmody has been dealing with an ankle injury since Week 2. Third-string left tackle Tos h B a ke r e n te re d concussion protocol after the Cincinnati loss. Injuries have cer- ta i n ly l e d to No t re Dame's propensity to allow sacks, but the Irish could use vastly improved play across the entire line. Kelly also has said that better quarterback play and timing with wide receivers could aid in the cause. — Tyler Horka ✦ GIMME FIVE Just five days after USC fired football coach Clay Helton Sept. 13, Notre Dame mentor Brian Kelly tied Knute Rockne as the program's all-time leader in wins with a victory over Purdue. Then Kelly alluded to the state of USC's program in comparison to that of his own in the postgame press conference. "They've had a number of different head coaches at their university," Kelly said. "You know I'm talking about our rival on the West Coast. And this is not to smear them at all, I'm just saying it requires consistency to get to these points. We have it with our leadership." Kelly is set to face the fifth different head coach, including interims, USC has had since he arrived in South Bend in 2010. This is the third time the Trojans started the season with one coach but will go into its game against Notre Dame with another since Kelly has been at the helm. The Irish beat interim leader Ed Orgeron in 2013 and Helton when he was still the interim coach in 2015. Donte Williams, formerly USC's defensive passing game coordinator and cornerbacks coach, will lead the Trojans into this year's matchup as the interim head coach. Notre Dame is searching for a fourth consecutive win in the series, and it would be the first time the Irish have beaten the Trojans four times in a row since the Lou Holtz era. Notre Dame went 12-0-1 against USC from 1983-95. The Irish only changed coaches once during that span, from Gerry Faust to Holtz in 1986. USC changed coaches twice, from Ted Tollner to Larry Smith in 1987 and Smith to John Robinson in 1993. The Trojans' longest stint of success in the series was when they won eight games in a row from 2002-09. Pete Carroll was the USC head coach for all of those seasons while Notre Dame had to switch from Tyrone Willingham to Charlie Weis in the middle of that run. That just goes to show that Kelly is correct; stability among a program's coaching staff generally leads to overall success and a better likelihood of taking care of annual rivalry games. USC HEAD COACHES SINCE 2010 Coach Games Coached vs. ND Record vs. ND Lane Kiffin 3 (2010-12) 1-2 Ed Orgeron 1 (2013) 0-1 Steve Sarkisian 1 (2014) 1-0 Clay Helton 5 (2015-19) 1-4 Donte Williams 1* (2021) 0-0 * Williams' first game against ND is on Oct. 23 — Tyler Horka Sacks National Years Allowed Rank 2013 8 2nd 2019 16 11th 2011 17 24th 2012 18 31st 2010 19 34th 2018 25 51st 2015 26 59th 2014 28 71st 2016 28 71st 2020 25 96th 2017 30 87th 2021 22* 126th * Through five games USC interim head coach Donte Williams will be the Trojans' fifth different head coach to face Notre Dame during the Brian Kelly era. PHOTO COURTESY USC ATHLETICS CHARTING THE IRISH NOTRE DAME ON PACE FOR MOST SACKS ALLOWED IN KELLY ERA