Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 NOV. 7, 2016 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME New Offensive Theme: Less Is More For two-plus years under former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder (2014 to Sep- tember 2016), there was constant reference that his system was fraught with complexities and not taking full advantage of the personnel. It eventually resulted in his ouster after the 38-35 loss to Duke Sept. 24. Now it's the offense's turn. Notre Dame used the Oct. 22 bye week to reflect and identity the problem on that side of the ball after falling to 60th in points per game and 66th in yards per game during the 2-5 start. Most disappointing was a ground attack that fell to 91st despite the offensive line being perceived as the area where Notre Dame has recruited most successfully. "There's an understanding now that we have to figure out what we are doing well and put emphasis on that," junior quarterback DeShone Kizer said. "When you do the things that you practice every single day, it becomes second nature," head coach Brian Kelly said four days before the Oct. 29 Miami game. "Let's practice what we're good at, and let's be better at execution in this kind of game." The emphasis is on the specific looks that the Irish have had success with, rather than complicating matters and doing too much. That can be difficult at times, Kizer said, because of the numerous weap- ons Notre Dame has offensively. "With the smart kids that we have on this team and the great coaches who are coming from a bunch of different styles of offenses from the past, everyone has come in and put together these great looks and these great ideas about specific defenses, specific style," Kizer said. "And that's great, to check those all out." Senior wide receiver Torii Hunter Jr. said he thinks the quick passing game will be most vital to Notre Dame's offensive success over the final five games. "Just completing some short passes, getting confidence," Hunter Jr. said. "… We're missing those short-yardage plays where you can throw hitches, different things like that. So we get back to that and I think it will generate some confidence and hopefully we can get those yards we're missing in the run game back as well. "We may have been trying to do a little too much instead of trying to perfect what we're good at." Per Yahoo Sports columnist Pat Forde, Notre Dame's pass efficiency rating dur- ing the 2-5 start fell from a stellar 198.22 in the first quarter to 135.59 in the sec- ond, 123.95 in the third and 111.94 in the fourth. The first half against Stanford was a good example of Notre Dame's offensive poten- tial, Kizer said. The Irish were successful on first-down plays, ran the ball effectively and mixed in deep passes. "Once we do figure out where our strengths are — which we have during this bye week — we'll be able to go back to those plays where we know we're going to have constant success," Kizer said. "Maybe shy away from taking too many shot plays in the first half or whatever it is. It's more along the lines of making sure we can find what we do well, and continue to do it." It all boils down to executing what the Irish are good at, senior left tackle Mike McGlinchey said. "We did a good job, especially coming off of the bye week, having a little bit of extra time to kind of simplify things and get back to some fundamental work that we hadn't been able to do because we were in the middle of season trying to game plan and all that stuff," McGlinchey said. "We just understand that we are who we are, and we have certain strengths and certain weaknesses and we should probably play to our strengths a little bit more." BRIAN KELLY'S PUBLICIZED SALARY NOT QUITE THE REALITY In USA Today's annual survey of college foot- ball head coaches' salaries, Michigan's Jim Harbaugh leads the way, making $9 million this year, overtaking Alabama head coach Nick Saban at $6.9 million. A year ago, Saban led all coaches in salary at $7,087,481. Finishing out the top five are Ohio State's Urban Meyer at $6 million, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops at $5.5 million and Florida State's Jimbo Fisher at $5.25 million. Seventh-year Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly is listed 65th among coaches ranked, at a salary of $1.625 million. That number is far from what Kelly actually makes — es- pecially considering how he trails several young coaches at Group of Five schools like Bob Diaco at UConn ($1.7M), Scott Frost at Central Florida ($1.704M) and Mike Norvell at Memphis ($1.8M). Plus, recently fired and former Irish defen- sive coordinator Brian VanGorder reportedly had a $1.1 million salary. The numbers in Kelly's contract are ma- nipulated, because as a private school, Notre Dame does not want a paper trail that shows a football coach among the highest- paid employees. As in past years, Notre Dame's federal tax return notes that Kelly is permitted to receive compensation from sources outside the uni- versity "with prior written approval from the university" and that any such income is not reported on the return. When Charlie Weis was fired after the 2009 season, he told The South Bend Tribune that a significant amount of his compensation came through adidas and another large portion from Notre Dame Sports Properties, for his radio and TV shows. It is likely that Kelly's deal with Notre Dame includes similar clauses. Unfortunately, the number published in USA Today mistakenly supports a one-time popular perception that Notre Dame is not competi- tive with its coaching salaries. Said Notre Dame vice president and director of athletics Jack Swarbrick in an interview with Blue & Gold Illustrated this past summer: "I can tell you that we have not lost any coach in the time that I've been here (since 2008) — ei- ther one we wanted to bring here or one who was thinking of going somewhere else — over compensation." THE 2016 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE STARTS ON PAGE 33! Senior wide receiver Torii Hunter Jr. noted the Irish offense needs to focus on perfecting what it is good at. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA