Blue and Gold Illustrated

Oct. 15, 2012 Issue

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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forward, starting with Golson. "An analogy I like to use is he's still cooking," Kelly said. "We've taken him out of the oven. He's still learning all of the things that are not necessarily visible from game film." Kelly pointed to 2011 and the 19 turnovers in five losses by the Irish as an example of pushing the offense too hard too early. "We ran it fast last and we've been playing pretty good teams, if you don't execute against the teams we're playing, you're not going to have much success." That the passing game year and you saw what happened — we got a lot of speeding tickets [with Rees]," Kelly said. "Clearly we want to be more of an offense that can have big-play capa- bility because we need to score more points … "Until we're ready to amp it up, so to speak, we're going to be careful with the football." Revving it up involves balance, Martin added. "Our run game has been better over the first four games than some of the things we've done in the passing game," Martin said. "We're still trying to be consistent in both areas. When we've executed, we've been pretty good in both ar- eas. When we haven't, has been erratic through four games shouldn't come as a surprise; the Irish are breaking in a first-year starter at quar- terback and a number of inexperienced receivers — both old and young. Senior Theo Riddick, who led the team in rushing (60.5 yards per game) prior to facing the Hurricanes, also paced the program in recep- tions (14). Sophomore wideout DaVaris Dan- iels, who didn't play as a freshman, and senior tight end Tyler Eifert were both averaging just a hair less than 40 yards per game receiving to top the list. Although 12 different players hav- ing at least one catch is a positive, Eifert's one reception combined in wins over Michigan State and Michigan isn't the kind of production Notre Dame expected from the Mackey Award hopeful. "Yes, definitely, no question," Martin said when asked if Eifert needs to be more of a central figure on of- fense, before explaining the passing game in gen- eral must have more of a presence. "We'd like to get more involved in the passing game. I don't think it's as much right now a product of Tyler not being involved in the passing game, per se, as much as how ef- ficient we throw the ball in certain situations, and make good decisions and make good reads and get the ball where it needs to get to. "So, trust me, Tyler has been doing awe- some, and he's been an unbelievable team- mate and competitor. Not just for him but for us, we're a better team if the ball gets in [No.] 80's direction more. It's certainly not by design that the ball's not going [his way], sometimes it's just by a read or by things within the pass- ing game that the ball may not go to him as much as maybe it should at times." It's a work in progress that the Irish staff hopes will soon catch up with the defense, which has shouldered the load to this point. ✦

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