Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/156066
off the defense for once." Notre Dame scored 20 or fewer points in regulation action (four quarters) in seven of its 13 games last year. In two others, it won 21-6 (at Boston College) and 22-13 (at USC). Because Notre Dame possessed a championship-level defense, it could afford to have a more buttoned-down offense whose prime emphasis was limiting turnovers — which it did, with only 15 compared to 29 a year earlier during an 8-5 campaign. On paper, it looks worse in 2013 because now the Irish are without their top two running backs (Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood) from 2012; four of the top six receivers, most notably first-round pick Tyler Eifert; and the quarterback, Everett Golson, in whom so much was invested. Here were some of the top questions during August camp: Under head coach Brian Kelly, the Irish have never finished higher than 59th in pass efficiency nor have they averaged at least 30 points per game. The 2012 offense did join the No. 2 edition in 1970 and the 1977 national champs as only the third one at Notre Dame to average at least 200 yards rushing (202.5 per game) and 200 yards passing (218.8 per game) during the regular season. So it could do both, but the Irish too often ended up with three or zero points on drives instead of seven. The final scoring average of the top six in the 2012 Associated Press poll were: Alabama (38.71), Oregon (49.54), Ohio State (37.17), Notre Dame (25.77), Texas A&M (44.46) and Georgia (37.79). "Putting more points on the board is crucial," Kelly said. "We think we'll be able to do that with a veteran quarterback with Tommy Rees." 1. What is going to be the offense's identity with Tommy Rees at quarterback — power running, spread formations, controlled passing game …? The "identity" is to be good enough to win with whatever strategy is necessary against the defense employed by the opponent. "It depends on what is working that day," fifth-year senior left guard Chris Watt said. "Against Miami [last year] we could run the ball, so we were going to keep running the ball … we have a lot of options." The read-option play will be more limited with Rees, and maybe the vertical passing game, too. However, the veteran Rees is capable of improving Notre Dame's No. 62 pass efficiency ranking from last season. 2. Have any of the six running backs gained separation in the competition? Junior George Atkinson III has been the frontrunner while classmate Amir Carlisle has taken most of the reps with the No. 2 unit in the two open practices seen. Freshman Greg Bryant will factor into the mix. Sophomore Will Mahone, who did not play last year, was having a strong camp before suffering a high ankle sprain that might sideline him for a few weeks. "We didn't even know how good his ball skills were until we started putting him in the slot a little bit more," Kelly said. "He's come on." Junior Cam McDaniel also was shelved Aug. 17 with an injury, while