Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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6 NOV. 14, 2016 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY LOU SOMOGYI F rom the Sept. 17 game against Michigan State and up to the clos- ing minute of the Oct. 29 Miami con- test, Notre Dame's four home games during that span had the same eerie pattern broken down into four steps: Step 1: Assert early control. Versus Michigan State, Notre Dame took a 7-0 lead and was about to get the ball near midfield in the second quarter. In the opening minutes against Duke (Sept. 24), the Irish were up 14-0 with 8:57 still left in the first quarter. Against Stanford Oct. 15, head coach Brian Kelly's troops were in control going into halftime with a 10-0 lead against the anemic Cardinal offense. In the battle with Miami, Notre Dame tallied a touchdown on its open- ing possession and built a 20-0 cushion with 10:31 still left until halftime. "In the beginning of the game, you come out with this enthusiasm, you come out with this energy," ju- nior quarterback DeShone Kizer said. "That kind of propels into the game where you can get the first three drives with great energy and great focus. "When you get to the end of the half or maybe the beginning of the second half, that energy can some- times fade away." Step 2: Game-changing snafu on special teams or offense. Versus Michigan State, a Spartans punt bounced and hit sophomore wide receiver Miles Boykin, whose back was to the play, leading MSU to recover the ball at the Irish 38-yard line. After the quick 14-0 lead versus Duke, the Blue Devils' backup return man Shaun Wilson fielded the kickoff and broke through would-be tacklers for a 96-yard touchdown return. On the opening possession of the second half against Stanford and af- ter picking up a first down at his 36, Kizer tried to thread the needle on a pass to Equanimeous St. Brown, only to have cornerback Quenton Meeks pick off the pass and navigate 50 yards for the score. Versus Miami, just like against Michigan State, a Hurricane punt hits an unaware freshman cornerback Troy Pride Jr. and the Hurricanes re- cover at the Irish 38 — exactly the same spot as MSU — and a touch- down results for Miami. Step 3: Unable to stop the bleed- ing after aforementioned snafu. Michigan State answered with 36 straight points for a commanding 36-7 advantage en route to its 36-28 win. Duke tallied 21 consecutive points and managed to pull off the 38-35 up- set that shook Notre Dame to the core. Stanford scored the game's final 17 points in its 17-10 conquest, its lone victory over a four-game stretch in which its offense averaged 9.0 points per game. Miami produced 27 straight points to take a 27-20 lead with 6:49 left in the contest. Once again, Notre Dame was not finding any tourniquet to stop the profuse bleeding. Step 4: Find a way to lose or not finish. After the same script that pro- duced losses at home to Michigan State, Duke and Stanford, Notre Dame finally stole the final scene — and game — against the Hurricanes. The third step — the avalanche of points scored by the opposition without an answer by the Irish that began in the opening game loss at Texas when the Longhorns tallied 17 straight points — is maybe the most distressing to Kelly. That is because it demonstrates an inability to control the line of scrimmage with an asser- tive, consistent running game. Going into the Navy game Nov. 5, Notre Dame ranked 94th nationally in rushing offense with 149.8 yards per game. "When you look at those [droughts], we're not consistent in running the football, and that lends itself to having some of those periods," Kelly said. "If you're consistent at running the foot- ball, we're going to be scoring boat- loads of points, and that's why we run hot and cold at times offensively." In an effort to compensate for the inability to run effectively over 60 minutes, Kelly and the Irish have at- tempted to add plays that are defined as "passes" on the stat sheet but are ac- tually viewed as "extended handoffs." These include flipping the ball forward on a jet sweep to the perimeter, the shovel pass and bubble screens. "When you're in a spread offense, you may not have the option to run the football all the time," Kelly said. "You have to be adept at finding ways to throw the ball that equals a run play, and we weren't very good at that. We're getting better at that. "That was a concerted effort for us this past week [preparing for Navy] UNDER THE DOME RUNNING PATTERNS Improving the ground game is vital to ending scoring droughts Sophomore Josh Adams' fourth-quarter running production aided the Irish comeback win versus Miami. Notre Dame ran for 69 yards in the first 53 minutes and then 79 in the last seven. PHOTO BY RICK KIMBALL