Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 6, 2021 7 UNDER THE DOME on quarterback Jack Coan's pass, but Steele batted the ball from his grip be- fore he could bring it closer into his body. He made a good adjustment to the ball, which was slightly under- thrown. Two plays later, they connected for 18 yards. Styles ran a five-yard out route from the slot and shook USC cornerback Prophet Brown with a sudden break. He caught the ball about four steps after his break, turned and ran upfield. The highlight, though, was a 29-yard catch-and-run on a second-quarter screen pass. He ran straight down the sideline for the entire play, accelerating away from a safety. His speed and burst were as advertised. "It has been gradually coming," Kelly said of Styles. "We felt like he's a guy that has earned his opportunities. When he's in there, he has made plays for us. It has been the natural evolution of his op- portunities coming to him and making plays. He's got a burst. He's a guy that we really like on the field." Colzie made just one catch, but it came in an important moment. Notre Dame faced third-and-eight on its own 22-yard line, at risk of a second straight three-and-out. Colzie lined up to the boundary side, with Steele about eight yards off him. Colzie met him at the first-down marker, made a clean break despite Steele's jam attempt and broke back inside. He settled in a soft spot in USC's zone defense, where Coan found him for 13 yards and a first down. Physicality at work. Notre Dame seems to trust the fresh- men duo as run blockers, too. Colzie was a run blocker on 10 of his 17 snaps. Ten of Styles' 15 snaps were plays where he had a blocking assignment. During one red-zone run play, Styles drove USC cornerback Isaac Taylor-Stuart back- ward 10 yards and onto the ground, knocking his helmet off. "If they make a play, they're staying in," Kelly said. "They're past that relative to how we're moving them in and out." With more games like their perfor- mance against USC, the Irish's early September decision to move Xavier Wa t ts f ro m a n a l rea dy t h i n w i d e receiver room to rover seems like a wise one. It felt curious at the time, given that senior Lawrence Keys III departed the team after one game and left just eight scholarship receivers in his dust. Watts' switch and senior Joe Wilkins Jr.'s season-ending injury (an MCL tear Oct. 2) dropped it to six. The low numbers begged for more help from the freshmen. Turns out, they look ready to provide it and more. "It's a competitive situation and we're going to go with the guys who are making plays," Kelly said. "That's how we see those guys. They're important to what we're doing now and moving forward." ✦ For the first time all season, Notre Dame played an entire game with the same five of- fensive linemen. There were no injuries or performance-related substitutions. The Irish's coaching staff liked what it saw from the left to right combination of Joe Alt, Andrew Kristofic, Jarrett Patterson, Cain Mad- den and Josh Lugg — which also played all but the first two drives of the Oct. 9 win at Virginia Tech. That same five started last week's 31-16 win over USC and put forth the offensive line's best effort yet. Notre Dame allowed one sack and one tackle for loss on a run play. Remove the sack and two kneel-downs, and the Irish averaged 4.7 yards per rush. Not dominant, but good enough. That's all this unit needs to be. Kelly touted Alt and Kristofic's physicality after the Virginia Tech game. Following the USC win, he pointed out a byproduct of it: A freer Patterson. "He's out to the second level a lot more," Kelly said. "There's a little bit more control at the line of scrimmage and it's allowing him to get up to that second level a little bit more." No play illustrated it better than Kyren Wil- liams' 38-yard run in the third quarter, a chunk gain generated from a basic inside rushing play. Kristofic and Patterson begin it with a double- team on USC defensive tackle Stanley Ta'ufo'ou, with the former taking the brunt of it to allow the latter to move to the second level. Patterson quickly sensed Kristofic could handle Ta'ufo'ou himself and left to find a linebacker to block. Williams was still a yard behind the line of scrimmage when Patterson met linebacker Kana'i Mauga and blocked him out of the play. Williams cut back behind Kristofic and Patterson, made another defender miss and hit the gas. Ta'ufo'ou and Mauga ended up on the ground, pancaked. Plays like that have been more frequent in the last two weeks and have evoked the real possibility Notre Dame's latest offensive line combina- tion might be its last, health provided. " There's a feeling that the five work," Kelly said. "You're trying to find the combinations and how they work well. They seem to work well to- gether. There's better communication. Alt is a guy who communicates well. That passes on down the line. It's not just one guy. They all just work well together." — Patrick Engel Notre Dame's 31-16 win over USC marked the first time all season the Irish played an entire game with the same five offensive linemen. Jarrett Patterson, Andrew Kristofic (No. 73) and Joe Alt are shown above (left to right) pro- tecting quarterback Jack Coan. Rounding out the starting quintet are Cain Madden and Josh Lugg. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER Offensive Line 'Playing Freer'