Sun Bowl 2010: Notre Dame Offense Could Give Us an Early Glimpse into 2011

Chances are that the Notre Dame offense that we have witnessed this season is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what the future might hold. Going into Friday's Sun Bowl, Notre Dame brings with them the 97th-ranked rushing attack in the nation, the 29th-ranked passing offense, the 72nd-ranked scoring offense and the 63rd-ranked total offense. These are not jaw dropping numbers by any means, but what we saw this season is only a fraction of the offense that will materialize over time.

At the conclusion of the 2009 season, Coach Kelly's Cincinnati Bearcats ranked fourth in scoring offense, 11th in total offense, eighth in passing and 69th in rushing, all significant increases from Kelly's initial season in 2007.

To put this in some perspective, the Bearcats finished 2006 averaging 20.8 points per game, good for 81st in the nation. Fast forward to the end of 2009, when they were fourth in the nation, averaging 38.6 points per game. Granted, these numbers came against teams that are not at the level of Notre Dame's opponents, but the improvements are significant.

It has been said that a lot of the practice time this season was spent "uncoaching." This is one of a few reasons that the offensive production we saw this year was nowhere near what we will see when it reaches its full potential.

Offensive coordinator Charley Molnar has a track record of success, especially with quarterbacks. Does the name Dan LeFevour ring a bell? All Molnar did was turn him into a 3,000-yard passer and MAC champion. At Indiana State, Molnar's offense set six school records, and while at Western Michigan in 2003, he had the eighth-ranked passing offense in the country.

It has been a little over a month since Notre Dame last took the field in game competition. We should expect to see some new wrinkles in the offensive scheme. Coach Kelly's offense is complex and we have only seen a small portion of it coming into the Sun Bowl.

Something that is over looked at times is how a broader offense will help in the future. I look at it like this: say Notre Dame runs a trick play from a new formation on Friday. This will set the tone for 2011 in the sense that Michigan will now have to prepare for this new play and formation during their preparation for Notre Dame.

Notre Dame may not run that play again in 2011, but if they line up in that formation it will be in the back of the defense's minds. Something like this also causes future opponents to spend valuable practice time on something that they may never see.

Hopefully the Sun Bowl will show a more high-powered and confident Irish offense—one that's a little bit more complex—that will give the nation a look into what Notre Dame will look like in the future.