Notre Dame Football: The One Fix Brian Kelly Must Make During the Bye Week

As Notre Dame takes its first week off, the Irish find themselves in an enviable position—an undefeated record, a difficult schedule looking less daunting by the week and an opportunity to get their thin roster healthy after multiple injuries hit during their 31-14 victory over Purdue. 

But if there's one main objective to accomplish over the bye week, head coach Brian Kelly and offensive line coach Harry Hiestand must fix a unit that's underperforming. 

The Irish front five played perhaps its worst game of the season on Saturday night, giving up four sacks to the Boilermakers. That number could've been even uglier if quarterback Everett Golson had not shown his elusiveness on multiple occasions, escaping pressure as he scrambled and ran his way to leading rusher status for the Irish offense Saturday night.

That's an unnecessary—and dangerous—role for the engine of the Irish, especially with a talented trio of backs capable of carrying the load. But it can't do that if the offensive line doesn't open up any holes.

After starting the season strong with 281 yards on the ground against Rice, the Irish have seen that output plummet the past two weeks. 

Why that's happening remains to be seen. After being held to just 54 yards on the ground against Michigan, Kelly explained that the Wolverines' scheme played a large part in that struggle. But after seeing Notre Dame held to just 3.7 yards a carry against Purdue, you start to wonder if these comments have a bit of spin to them.  

"The way [Michigan] decided to play the game, there was six, seven guys [at the line of scrimmage], it was just how they decided that they wanted to take those opportunities away from us," Kelly explained after the 31-0 victory over the Wolverines. "We were glad to oblige them and throw the football. If somebody is going to play the game so one‑sided defensively, we're going to throw the football."

That wasn't Purdue defensive coordinator Greg Hudson's scheme, and the Irish still didn't run the ball well. So after back-to-back weeks of struggling on the ground, Kelly acknowledged a problem up front. And while there doesn't seem to be one glaring issue, the lack of chemistry in the starting five has the head coach understanding that improvements must be made. 

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"We're falling off a block here. We miss a fit here," Kelly said on Sunday. "And maybe it's just the continuity took us a little bit longer. It's nothing big, but it's everything. ... They've got to get cleaned up before we get to where we want offensively."  

Kelly acknowledging continuity points back to a training camp restack. After playing all spring with Steve Elmer at left guard and redshirt freshman Mike McGlinchey at right tackle, Notre Dame opened camp with Elmer at tackle and unproven veterans Matt Hegarty and Conor Hanratty sharing time at left guard. 

Teamed with center Nick Martin and fifth-year senior Christian Lombard at right guard, that trio (with the platoon of Hegarty-Hanratty at left guard) was expected to be an asset while Elmer and left tackle Ronnie Stanley got acclimated to new positions. But Lombard's ankle injury suffered against Rice forced both Hanratty and Hegarty into the starting lineup surrounding Martin, and it's created question marks. 

"Quite frankly, we've got to find a little bit more push inside, and that's what we're going to try to come up with," Kelly said. "So we're in the process right now of kind of sorting that out ourselves."

One place the Irish won't look is to their talented freshman, Quenton Nelson. After impressing during fall camp, it seems that Kelly and Hiestand want to keep a redshirt on Nelson if at all possible. Beyond that, the focus likely turns to Elmer. 

Year	Name	Position	Star-Rating
2012	Ronnie Stanley	OT	4-Star
2012	Mark Harrell	C	3-Star
2013	Hunter Bivin	OG/C	4-Star
2013	Steve Elmer	OT/OG	4-Star
2013	John Montelus	OG	4-Star
2013	Mike McGlinchey	OT	4-Star
2013	Colin McGovern	OG	4-Star
2014	Quenton Nelson	OT	4-Star
2014	Alex Bars	OT	4-Star
2014	Sam Mustipher	OG	4-Star
2014	Jimmy Byrne	OG	4-Star

An elite recruit and a physical specimen, the sophomore held his own last year at guard, thrown into the lineup after Lombard required season-ending back surgery. But after shifting outside to tackle, a position he profiles at nicely at 6'5.5" and 315 pounds, the Irish staff needs to decide if it works its way through growing pains or moves Elmer back inside. 

"I think you could look at it one of two ways. One, let's hang in there and let him continue to work through a new position. Or two, he's much more comfortable at guard," Kelly said.

A third scenario likely plays into the equation even more: Is McGlinchey ready to be an every-down player?

As physically talented as any offensive lineman on the roster, McGlinchey is still growing into his 6'7.5" frame. And at only 310 pounds, he'll be asked to hold up against defenses like Stanford and Florida State thrown into the October fire fairly quickly.

Or Kelly could shift Lombard back outside to right tackle, where he started in 2012 for the 12-1 Irish. Lombard dominated Rice's Christian Covington during the season opener, but he isn't necessarily healthy with an ankle sprain and hasn't played tackle in two seasons.  

Over the past three seasons, Notre Dame has collected some elite talent along the offensive line. Credit Hiestand's ability to recruit and teach, something on display last season as the Irish offensive line didn't miss a beat even after losing three starters to injury. 

But without first-rounder Zack Martin and third-round pick Chris Watt, the Irish front five needs to find its identity if Notre Dame wants to turn 2014 into a season to remember. 

"We're going to evaluate where we are after three weeks because we have to get better," Kelly said. "We know we've got some good players. We have to figure out whether we have them all in the right place."

*Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained firsthand.