Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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working together and get into a good rhythm," Kelly said. "We ran some tempo with them as well, and we just really think that that's the strength of our group." Fair or unfair, Kelly has been ste- reotyped as a pass-first, finesse coach. That's because in the four seasons that his Irish lost four or five games, the running game was often pedestrian, averaging 126.6 yards per game in 2010 (8-5), 138.9 in 2011 (8-5), 151.3 in 2013 (9-4) and 150.8 last regular season (7-5) — until a superb 263-yard effort (5.2 yards per carry) in the 31-28 win over LSU in the Music City Bowl. Was it a coincidence that when the Irish ran the ball to the tune of 202 yards per game during the 2012 regular season they finished 12-0? Against LSU like- wise, it became a mindset to run the ball with greater commitment and proficiency that carried over into the winter, spring and, the hope is, next fall. "That just showed the whole team that this is what we're capable of doing," Elmer said of the c o m m i t m e n t t o be more physical against the ultra- physical Tigers i n t h e b o w l . "Even more than that — this is how we should be playing all the time and we just hadn't been. That was our goal: to build on that in the spring and carry it into the season." Stanley was pleased to open the Blue- Gold Game by establishing the run as a carryover from the LSU game. "Just having the ability to run when we want to run the ball and go to the pace we'd like to go to … I do think that's a big change of identity from the year previous to now," Stanley said. "Every team wants to establish the run game. It's something you have to do in football to be successful. "We know that if we want to be a championship team we're going to have to run the ball when it matters." FORGING AN IDENTITY Over the past 10 years, every national champion but one — Florida with 160.0 in 2006 — rushed for more than 200 yards per contest during its march to No. 1 (as did most of the teams in the major bowls). In last year's final Associated Press top 10, nine of them rushed for more than 200 yards per contest, most notably na- tional champion Ohio State with a 264.5-yard average. The Left tackle Ronnie Stanley is a projected future first-round pick who opted to return for his senior season this year rather than depart for the NFL. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA