Can Notre Dame Score on an Elite Defense?

Brian Kelly came to South Bend hailed as an offensive guru. It wasn't a title he gave himself. It also hasn't been a title he's necessarily earned since taking over the Notre Dame program.

Only one of Kelly's Notre Dame teams has finished a season ranked in the top 50 in scoring offense. Even the 2014 offense, finally running a spread attack with a quarterback custom-fit for the head coach's scheme, is ranked a fairly pedestrian No. 40 in the country. 

While Kelly has taken the Notre Dame football program to heights unseen since Lou Holtz roamed the sidelines, the Irish's undoing has been a dominant defense. Over Kelly's five seasons, points have been few and far between against teams playing great defense.

We saw it against Stanford two weeks ago, when Notre Dame turnovers and the nation's No. 1 defense combined to hold the Irish to just 17 points. We saw it in 2013, when the Irish only reached 21 points once in games against Michigan State, Oklahoma, USC and Stanford. 

The Irish got by in 2012 behind one of the nation's best defenses. They managed to win seven regular-season games while averaging just 19 points per victory.  

If there's a signature win that stands out from the rest during Kelly's tenure in South Bend, it's Notre Dame's 30-13 victory over Oklahoma. It's the only win over a Top 15 team where Notre Dame managed to reach 30 points. 

If the Irish are going to win on Saturday night against No. 2 Florida State, they're going to have to light up the scoreboard. And after four seasons of struggling to do that against elite defenses, it might be a near-impossible task. 

Category	2013	2014
Points Per Game	12.3	20.7
Yards Per Game	285.0	358.5
Rush Yards Per Game	127	144.8
Passing Yards Per Game	158	213.7
Sacks	14	8
Three-and-outs	20	16
Third-down Conversions	30.1%	44.2%

Of course, the Seminoles might not qualify as an elite defense. A season after putting together the nation's No. 1 scoring unit, Florida State has taken a step backwards in just about every major category. 

The Seminoles won shootouts against Oklahoma State and North Carolina State, giving up over 30 points in the first six games of the season when Florida State hasn't given up more than 30 points twice in a regular season since 2010. 

That vulnerability, paired with an offense that Kelly thinks is finally ready for primetime, should determine which team walks out of Doak Campbell Stadium 7-0. 

In the offseason, Kelly took steps to get his offense ready for carrying the load. That meant a return to the spread playbook he utilized at Cincinnati. It also meant a return to calling plays, with veteran assistant Mike Denbrock taking over the day-to-day of the unit. 

It's helped Notre Dame make the jump from average to good thus far, averaging just shy of five touchdowns a game. 

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​​"I believed that this was set up for it to occur," Kelly told USA Today. "I also knew that we had to be a lot more aggressive offensively because we were going to have to support a young defense.

​​"It's a lot closer [to what we did at Cincinnati]. We've had four or five screens for touchdowns. We're able to play at a better pace, averaging over 80 plays the last three games. We're a lot more comfortable in this style of offense. For me to call this kind of offense, it's easier for me because it's what I'm used to."​

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That theory will be put to the test against the Seminoles. With Jameis Winston and the Florida State offense ready for a shootout, it'll be up to Kelly's offense to keep up. 

History has shown that to be difficult to do. But with Everett Golson and a set of young, talented playmakers, Kelly has his offense poised to break through.