Notre Dame's New 1-2 Punch Must Come Through vs. Georgia Tech

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame football is down five starters just two games into the regular season, and No. 14 Georgia Tech speeds into South Bend on Saturday for a Top 15 showdown, affording the Irish little time to slow down and deliberately reorient the ship.

No, with Georgia Tech’s potent triple-option offense—the Yellow Jackets are averaging nearly 47 points in their last 10 games, including wins over Clemson, Georgia and Mississippi State—en route to Notre Dame Stadium, the Irish must be effective and efficient offensively, even with sophomore quarterback DeShone Kizer making his first career start in place of Malik Zaire, who suffered a gruesome season-ending fractured ankle Saturday against Virginia.

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“We're not going to sit on the ball,” Irish head coach Brian Kelly said. “We have to play our offense. We have to be aggressive offensively and DeShone, we have to do the things that he is capable of doing, certainly, but we've got to score points.”

Though both of its wins in 2015 have come against overmatched foes, Georgia Tech rolled up 69 points against Alcorn State in its opener and another 65 against Tulane on Saturday.

Last season, in which the Yellow Jackets won 11 games and topped Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl, Georgia Tech scored on its first possession 71.4 percent of the time, the best mark in the FBS. The Yellow Jackets also led the FBS in third-down efficiency (57.9 percent) and only went three-and-out offensively on 7.91 percent of its possessions, the lowest mark in FBS.

In other words, expect Georgia Tech to get its points, regardless of how improved Notre Dame’s defense is after a rocky performance against Virginia last week.

“This [Georgia Tech] offense is going to score points,” Kelly said. “So the best way to answer the question is that DeShone's got to play his butt off. He's got to play really well, and we've got to put him in a position to play well. The other 10 guys around him have to play very, very well as well.”

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The rest of Notre Dame’s offense is important, especially the five men protecting Kizer. But, in particular, running back C.J. Prosise and wide receiver Will Fuller must thrive for the Irish against the Yellow Jackets.

Prosise gobbled up 155 rushing yards and a score on 17 attempts in his first career start at running back against the Cavaliers. The converted slot receiver is the top dog in the backfield with Tarean Folston out for the season with a torn ACL.

“I’m definitely getting a lot more carries than I was expecting to get,” Prosise said. “That’s what we do here. It’s next man in. Somebody goes down, somebody has to step up.”

Prosise’s 155 yards against Virginia were the most rushing yards by a Notre Dame player since 2011. The 220-pound speedster, whom teammates call a “freak athlete,” also chomped up 98 yards in the opener against Texas. Prosise said the offense hasn’t changed much this week with Kizer at the helm.

“We’re still gonna do the same things we did,” Prosise said. “There’s gonna be no slack with DeShone. I think I’ll still have to step up.”

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When it wasn’t Prosise gaining big-chunk runs on Saturday, Fuller was producing in his standard way from his spot on the wide side of the field. The junior standout recorded five catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winning score from Kizer with 12 seconds remaining.

“As soon as we knew he was gonna get in, I was telling [Kizer], ‘We have a great offensive line. We have playmakers all around you. Just do your job, and we’ll be fine,’” Fuller recounted. “He came in real poised. That was good for us.”

Fuller and Prosise are those top playmakers, and they’ll be needed for the Irish to keep pace with Georgia Tech’s mighty offensive machine.

“It’s about how we execute,” Fuller said. “We have a very good, very talented offense. If we execute, we’ll be fine.”

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Mike Monaco is the lead Notre Dame writer for Bleacher Report. Follow @MikeMonaco_ on Twitter.