Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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24 JANUARY 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED per game was easily the most since Holtz's 1992 team 25 years ago to- taled 280.9 in the regular season with future NFL Hall of Fame member Je- rome Bettis and Reggie Brooks, who finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy balloting. In Kelly's first seven seasons, the Irish had averaged a relatively modest 162.4 yards per game on the ground and never more than 207.6. Junior Josh Adams reflected the combination of game-breaking skills to complement power in the attack. His seven runs of at least 60 yards led the nation — as did his 5.20 yards per carry after contact (994 of his 1,386 total), according to Pro Football Focus. However, his descent over the fi- nal month reflected the team's over- all drop in that same span. Adams rushed for 1,169 yards and 8.9 yards per game in the Irish's first eight con- tests, but the figures fell to 217 yards and 3.7 yards per carry the last four. Meanwhile, quarterback Brandon Wimbush's 765 rushing yards were the third-most by an Irish signal- caller in one season, behind only Tony Rice's 934 in 1989 and 775 in 1988 (bowl games included both times) under Holtz. Rice completed only 48.5 percent of his passes during his career, and Wimbush at 49.8 this year could be the first to finish at less than 50 per- cent at Notre Dame in one season since freshman Brady Quinn (47.3 percent) in 2003. Among 114 quarterbacks who qualified with enough pass attempts, Wimbush placed 87th in passing ef- ficiency. Still, no other Irish quarter- back ever produced at least 14 touch- downs rushing (14) and passing (16) in a single season. Notre Dame achieved what it em- phasized with the ground attack this season, but an inconsistent pass at- tack — including a receiving corps that had far too many drops while also not competing enough on other pass attempts — couldn't quite put the collective unit over the top in No- vember losses at Miami and Stanford when the ground game was no lon- ger as productive. DEFENSIVE DOINGS Last winter, Notre Dame hired a record six new on-field assistant coaches, which is virtually a new coaching regime. The two expected to make the most profound impact were offensive co- ordinator Chip Long, who had never worked with Kelly but had play- calling duties turned over to him, and defensive coordinator Mike Elko from Wake Forest. Under Long, the offense played to its strength as a physical, run-oriented team and improved the scoring aver- age from 30.9 in 2016 to 35.3 in 2017. With Elko, though, the more sig- nificant upgrade was sought and achieved after the worst three-year stretch of defensive football at the school from 2014-16. Through 12 games in both 2016 and 2017, Notre Dame improved in all these categories: • From 72nd in run defense in 2016 (182.4) to 49th (153.2). • From 79th in pass efficiency de- fense (134.56 rating) to 37th (120.75). • From 62nd in scoring defense (27.8 points allowed per game) to 32nd (21.8). • From 117th in sacks (14) to 84th (22). • From 109th in turnovers forced (14) to a tie for 40th (20). • From 60th in third-down conver- sion defense (39.0 percent opponent success rate) to 27th (33.5 percent). • Total defense fell from 42nd to 44th, but this year's unit actually al- lowed 12 yards less per game. These figures are not where Notre Dame ultimately wants to be on that side of the ball, but in year one under Elko the positive is that at least it's not where it had been. ✦ Junior lineman Jerry Tillery was part of a Notre Dame defense that made across the board improvement under the guidance of first-year coordinator Mike Elko. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA