Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/899989
6 NOV. 20, 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY LOU SOMOGYI T he popular "defense wins cham- pionship" cliché will remain ev- erlasting in football. However, what often gets overshadowed is if you want to be championship caliber, you better rack up the points as well. Since 2010, head coach Brian Kel- ly's first season at Notre Dame, the scoring averages of the teams that captured the national title usually hovered in the high 30s and even the low 40s. 2010 Auburn — 41.2 2011 Alabama — 34.8 2012 Alabama — 38.7 2013 Florida State — 51.6 2014 Ohio State — 44.8 2015 Alabama — 35.1 2016 Clemson — 39.2 Alabama does typically rank among the top five in scoring de- fense, so it is able to win more defen- sive battles while keeping the clock running on offense to control the contest. Nevertheless, the Crimson Tide's last two appearances in the national title game have resulted in not de- fensive stand-offs, but shootouts — a 45-40 victory versus Clemson to cap- ture the 2015 crown and a 35-31 loss last season to those same Tigers. For its part, Clemson in 2016 — also recognized for its vaunted de- fense — had to win games by scores of 42-35 (Virginia Tech) and 37-34 (Florida State) against its top Atlantic Coast Conference competition, and it even lost 43-42 to Pitt. That brings us to an Irish offense whose scoring totals under head coach Brian Kelly had been relatively modest through his first seven sea- sons — with the lowest surprisingly coming during the 12-1 season in 2012. 2010 (26.3) — 67th nationally 2011 (29.2) — 49th 2012 (25.8) — 78th 2013 (27.2) — 74th 2014 (32.8) — 38th 2015 (34.2) — 33rd 2016 (30.9) — 53rd The high 30s have not been a part of Notre Dame's scoring average, never mind delving into the 40s. Yet with its 41.3 scoring average through the first nine games (8-1) that ranked No. 7 in the country, Notre Dame was on course to ex- ceed the 50-year school record of UNDER THE DOME MAKING THEIR POINTS Notre Dame has a chance to break a 50-year school record in scoring average Junior quarterback Brandon Wimbush and junior running back Josh Adams have formed a potent one-two punch for an Irish offense that averaged 41.3 points per game during Notre Dame's 8-1 start. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA