Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/167574
Under the Dome it's third-and-15," Kelly said of Martin's calm. "That's just a small indication of his experience and being on the same page with him." According to Kelly, play calling can sometimes be over-drama‑ tized. "We're working off of a play sheet and a call sheet that we con‑ struct during the week, and our columns are down and distance, openers and field position," he said. "It's not like there are 36 calls in there. "There's four of five calls, and I'm generally saying let's keep it on the ground, let's burn some clock here … let's push the ball vertically, let's get a screen in here, we're not getting the ball to TJ [Jones], those kind of big-picture things more so than let's run guard pull here. I'm not getting into that, [but] more bigger picture things." Offensive coordinator Chuck Martin called the plays against Temple Aug. 31, marking the first time that Brian Kelly did not do it in his 23 years as a head coach. photo courtesy notre dame media relations Flip Instead Of Flop Sixty years ago during a 14-14 tie with Iowa, No. 1-ranked Notre Dame was the recipient of some national scorn for stopping the clock with fake injuries — All-American tackle Frank Varrichione was designated for that role — when the Irish were out of timeouts. Using that ruse, Notre Dame scored touchdowns right before halftime and with six seconds left in the game to salvage a tie. These days, because of high-tempo offenses that don't allow defenses to catch their breath or substitute, more and more accusations of defenses flopping or faking injuries have arisen. As one who thrived with the high-tempo offense at Cincinnati, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said such tactics are not only unsportsmanlike, but an indictment on a coaching staff for not figuring out a way to combat it. He used the Oregon-Stanford series as an example. Oregon's fast-paced style defeated the Cardinal in 2010 and 2011 by scores of 53‑30 and 52‑31 — but last year Stanford upset the No. 1 Ducks 17‑14. "Last year Stanford figured out a way to get their calls in and play fast defense, and they caught up to that fast-tempo offense," Kelly said. "I'm of the opinion that if you can do it on offense, you can do it on defense."