Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/871976
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com SEPT. 18, 2017 17 BY LOU SOMOGYI W hile finishing 12-1 in 2012 and 9-4 in 2013, there was a conspicuous missing ele- ment in Notre Dame's of- fensive attack. Most of the premier teams in col- lege football were averaging at least 40 points per game, with a couple even pushing the 50-point barrier. Conversely, Notre Dame averaged a relatively modest 25.8 points (78th nationally) in 2012 while advancing to the BCS National Championship Game on the strength of a top-rated defense. The next season it didn't improve by substantially much at 27.2 (74th). When asked why his offenses were not nearly as prolific, Kelly was "in- directly direct." "Look around college football, the teams that are scoring a gazillion points," he responded. "It's not in- novative gurus on offense. It's pretty clear why they're scoring a gazillion points, if you guys can figure that out. "There's no question about what you have to do if you want to win a national championship. You've got to have a defense in place. The rest is … if you guys watch college football, you can figure out what you have to do from there." The indirect answer was a game- changing quarterback, preferably one that could beat you with both his arm and legs. Notre Dame didn't quite possess that with Everett Gol- son in 2012, who was elusive and at his finest in ad-lib situations but not comfortable with the zone read, or current quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees, who maximized his skill set but was not a threat with his feet. Since the turn of the 21st century, the trend of the dual threat who could carry a program began to bur- geon with national title winners such as Texas' Vince Young (3,036 passing yards and 1,050 rushing as a senior), Florida's Tim Tebow (more than 9,000 passing yards and nearly 3,000 rushing in his career) and Auburn's Cam Newton (2,854 passing yards and 1,473 rushing in 2010). More and more programs have moved toward the dual-threat figure: Dual Process Brandon Wimbush provides college football's coveted double-threat dimension Against Temple, Wimbush became the sixth Notre Dame quarterback to both pass and run for more than 100 yards in one game. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA