Notre Dame Football: Will Irish Offense Dominate in 2011?

In 2010, Brian Kelly showed up on Notre Dame's campus with 179 college wins in his wallet and a reputation as an offensive guru in the spread offense.  

And for good reason.

He maintains his offices at the top of a mountain in Tibet and eats only the root of the rare Futba plant, giving him the power to predict defenses, self-actualize at press conferences and float three to ten feet above the podium at alumni fund raisers.

Actually, that's a big lie, Kelly's guruism is much more impressive than that.

His 2001 Grand Valley State team set 77 NCAA, GLIAC and school records, including setting the all-time Division II scoring record, averaging 58.4 points per game.

He took over a Central Michigan team that won more than three games only once in the prior four years, leaving after a 9-4 season three years later to take over at Cincinnati. The 2006 Chippewas averaged almost 30 points a game. 

Kelly knocked the living crap out of the Big East, going 34-6 in his three years at Cincinnati, leading them to wins over Pittsburgh and West Virginia. In 2009, the 12-1 Bearcats averaged 38.6 points per game.

Then he drove his U-Haul six hours to South Bend and unpacked an offense that would finish an unguru-like 67th in the country at a relatively pedestrian 26.3 points per game.

As a result of the inhumanity, I now have been tasked with explaining what happened to his famed spread offense, but first, by borrowing from the vast well of Clashmore Mike knowledge and making stuff up, I will tell you what the hell a spread offense is.

The Spread Offense

Imagine a room that has a pool at one end. Then imagine five really fat kitties lounging in a line at the center of the other end of the room. Now imagine four more kitties, two on each side, standing along that line toward the outer walls of the room, well away from the fat kitties.

Just a few feet behind the line of fat kitties is the world's fastest kitty and another fast kitty that is really smart. The smart kitty has a ball of yarn.

Between the pool and the kitties are four unfed Russian wolfhounds, three rabid pitbulls and four dobermans that have just been beaten into a frenzy with the South Bend Tribune newspaper.

If you can envision lighting all the kitties' tails on fire at once and then having the smart kitty give the ball of yarn to the world's fastest kitty, keep the ball of yarn, or throw it to one of the other kitties as every flaming kitty bolts for the pool chased by all 11 dogs, you have just mastered the basics of the spread offense.

 The Standard Spread

Since the 1996 NCAA rule change banning kitten ignition systems, college coaches have had to adapt the spread slightly to more conventional approaches. 

There are lots of versions and they all have their specific benefits and drawbacks. We don't have time for the War and Peace version of the spread, so I'm going to give you Uncle Dan's Two Beer Version of the Spread Offense.

The Formation

For lack of a better word, a spread offenses formation is, well, "spread"—more or less explaining away the moniker, "Spread Offense."

The five linemen are in the center and there are usually four wideouts. The split ends likely line up outside the hash marks and closer to the sidelines. The slot receivers split the difference between the offensive line and the split end, again spreading out the defense.

The QB is in a shotgun 4- or 5-yards behind the center, typically with one back at his right or left.

Origin

The spread offense was originally conceived after six Budweisers by the Ohio philosopher and namesake Earl T. Spread, who, when playing touch football, noted the defensive side of the field was way too crowded.

When he gathered his team and went up to take the snap from his buddy Festus, he noticed that all 11 defenders were within four feet of him; their collective breath was horrendous.

Using his emperical knowledge and keen deductive reasoning, he turned to his teammates and said, "Hey, you guys, spread out."

The spread was born.

Philosophy

The intent of a spread offense is to stretch the field from sideline to sideline with multiple wide receivers. The result is an advantage for the offense on the interior.

With so many offensive players on the outside, defenses can’t overload the interior line (the "box"), so the offense has one-on-one blocking opportunities in the running game and in pass protection.

To add an element of deception like the dirty Ruskies, the spread attempts to confuse the defense through motion, shifts and a multitude of formations.

To add to the confusion, most plays are called from the line of scrimmage to keep the defense off balance, increase the pace and wear out the defense until they step on their tongues.

It's a philosophy a philosopher like Immanuel Kant would die for if he wasn't already dead.

 The Plays

For some run-based spread coaches, like Rich Rodriguez, the primary play of the offense is the zone read.

For those that saw the 2010 ND/Michigan game, Denard Robinson ran it 342 times for six million yards, or something like that.

The zone read is in almost every playbook in the country—and is also available in paperback form at Amazon.com. It's a basic running play that relies strictly on the quarterback's ability to read one player on the field.

The zone read is run out of the shotgun and requires the quarterback to put the ball in the RB's grasp before deciding whether or not to give it or keep it in the last second.

The running back passes directly in front of the quarterback in this play. The offensive line leaves one man unblocked—the defensive end on the side of the field the running back lined up—to allow the quarterback to make the "read" in the read option.

Everything keys off this one player.

If the end stays home and holds containment, the quarterback hands the ball off. If the end crashes down the line to eat the running back, the quarterback keeps it and turns upfield to the space the end vacated. If that quarterback is Denard Robinson, you keep running for three days.

From this basic play, a variety of different options are available.

If it's a two-back set, the play can be a zone read option, with the second back being the option pitch-man. If you're Oregon, slot receivers become the option pitch-men, making themselves available as the quarterback breaks outside.

Teams can even run an end-around off the zone read.

Really good teams can run congress, given the right personnel.

Then there's the pass. This is where things start to get complicated.

Want to use the zone read as a play-fake? No problem at all. QBs can pass out of a zone read look, drawing the defense in and hitting an open man.

For quarterbacks that are superior run threats, defenses must key the run and often leave wide cushions for the receivers, making average throwers like Denard Robinson look like much better passers than they really are.

While the D-Line and linebackers are trying to figure out what the hell is going on in the offensive backfield, the secondary is trying to figure out where the hell those four wideouts went, while somebody else has to account for the back that slips out of the backfield.

The arsenal of routes and combinations of routes in a spread offense is as endless as Snookie's intercontinental buttocks. 

A passing spread team like Texas Tech will run bubble screens, slip screens and jailbreak screens intermixed with seam routes, and all combinations of posts, flags, fades and crossing routes.

On the same play the RB can run a seam, hitch, or wheel route—or just find a place underneath to have a good nap until the QB needs him.

Rumor has it that before he was bagged, Texas Tech's coach Mike Leach was working on a spread offense that ran all of these combinations and a corner deli, all on the same play.

I kid you not.

With multiple formations and multiple plays off of the same formation, modern defensive coordinators charged with stopping the spread eat Valium like Chicklets.

 The Players

The real beauty of the spread offense is that, for a flexible coach, it can be tailored to the strengths of the personnel, unless that personnel is a high school band, and even then, they'll put up 25 a game on most Division II defenses if they can keep the fat kid with the tuba hydrated.

 The power of the offense lies in its versatility, although there are some preferred player packages depending on the type of spread.

For instance, the run-heavy read option spread of Rich Rodriguez pretty much requires a QB that is faster than everyone in college football, while Mike Leach's pass-intensive former Texas Tech teams require a disciplined QB with a good arm that makes quick reads.

For most spread offenses, it's somewhere in between.

An ideal personnel set involves an accurate quarterback that is mobile enough to take what the defense gives him if he needs to escape the rush or run the read option. Zone reads and multiple routes in the playbook require both recognition and the ability to make the tough throw.

Due to the open field and the fast-paced offense, linemen need to be agile and capable of blocking in space. High-end endurance is a must—to the point that O-linemen are not allowed to own chairs or beds lest a moment of conditioning time go to waste.

The wide receivers need to run disciplined routes and spread the field. If there are an abundance of talented receivers, empty sets with five wideouts are common.

 The running back needs to be able to get into space and make people miss, so the typical spread option running back is small, elusive, north-south and explosive.

A power back is not necessarily required for this scheme, but when the fast-paced offense has worn the defense down, a banger can be very effective (see Robert Hughes, 4th quarter vs. USC, 2010).

Believe it or not, a spread offense also needs pass catching tight ends. The scheme utilizes the seams and tight ends that can get free over the middle open up the playbook even more.

Trust me, if the spread didn't have a tight end running a seam route, no one would know Tommy Rees' name.

The Advantages of the Spread Offense

At it's most basic level, the spread does as advertised. Where a traditional offense allows defenses to crowd the box and jam up running and passing lanes, the nature of the spread leaves a wide open field to allow the offense to make plays in space.

This effectively accomplishes two goals. First, it puts pressure on the defense to make open-field tackles, which ain't very damn easy. 

(Last week I caught a punk trying to steal a case of beer out of my garage and after six tries at tackling the little bastard I had to just shoot him.)

Second, it forces defensive coordinators to use smaller, quicker personnel and to empty the box in order to matchup on the outside.

Using smaller, quicker defenders is a problem in that most teams might have two or three good corners, but not the four or five needed to effectively match up against a spread offense with four or more stud wide receivers.

Plus, less defenders in the box keeps the defense spread thin, leaving favorable matchups in the inside running game and protecting the quarterback.

The net effect of the spread is to create one-on-one matchups and force the defense to play sound, assignment driven football. Missed tackles or blown assignments typically result in big plays.

If an offense has a boatload of skill players, the spread offense lets a team get as many of them as possible on the field, and isolate defenders in individual battles that they're going to lose more often than not.

A spread offense has another "schematic advantage" in that typically a standard offensive formation can tip the defense off to the play call (see Charlie Weis) where the spread does not.

The beauty of the spread-offense scheme is the ability to run one play from a variety of different looks. A simple bubble screen can be done using 2 tight end sets, or 3, 4 and 5 wide receiver sets. With a spread, if the defense cheats outside because they see a five-wide set, for instance, they're liable to get burned.

With the right talent and a good QB to distribute the ball, the spread is a defensive coordinator's nightmare, worse than winning a 10-day all-expenses-paid Mexican vacation with Snookie, who only packed a bikini and a fork.

The Disadvantages of the Spread Offense

One drawback of the spread is that its entire premise is to create one-on-one matchups; therefore, if their athletes are better than your athletes, you're pretty much screwed.

This is why Michigan's version of the spread put up 65 and 67 against the likes of Bowling Green and Illinois, then checked in with 7 and 14 against the vastly more athletic defenses of Ohio State and Mississippi State.

It is also the main reason why Florida pantsed Kelly’s 2009 12-0 38.6 PPG Cincinnati Bearcat team 51-24, holding the Bearcats to 170-yards passing and 76-yards rushing in a game that was not nearly that close.

Also, the success of a boatload of wideouts in space comes with the assumption that there is a threat to run and that the five offensive linemen can protect the passer, often times with little or no help.

If the defensive front can pressure the QB and contain the run, the spread is in big trouble.

Why, you might ask?

No big mystery.

When the defense's front four is getting good push, the D can drop seven into coverage and clog passing lanes. There is no place to run routes and the D can then put pressure on the outside, disrupting timing and causing the QB to hold the ball. 

And the combination of the two allows aggressive outside secondary play with help over the top to prevent downfield throws.

Needless to say, just as in pretty much any offensive scheme in history, if the offensive line can’t provide extra time for the quarterback, the passing game struggles.

Alternatively, without a solid run presence to take advantage of the even numbers in the box, the defense isn’t required to adjust by committing more defenders to stopping the run. If the defenders don't need extra men to shade the run, the outside of the field is too crowded to make any yards.

Finally, to add injury to insult, the burden on the QB to drop back with minimal protection and to run as needed can, and often does, result in lots of banged up quarterbacks.

Brian Kelly's Spread Offense

A spread guru like Rich Rodriguez is like that fat witch on the cooking show that cooks up some Italian dish with fifteen herbs and spices and two cheeses you never heard of. You know, the one that smugly says "Arugula" like we know it's an aromatic salad green.

To be effective, RichRod's spread offense needs Jamaican Olympic sprinters at QB and RB, and three of the Top Four wideouts, with big fast linemen that can move in space for as long as it takes to run three marathons and a triathlon carrying your twin sister's Volkswagen—with her in it. 

The gas for his offense is speed, speed and more speed. No gas, no offense.

On the other hand, Brian Kelly's version of the spread offense varies with his personnel—he's like a grandma that goes into the kitchen, opens the cupboards and sees enough meats, flour and spices to make a great meal. Everyone loves the bread.

However, he does have some standard fare that he uses no matter what the personnel.

Kelly makes no secret of his offensive goal. He wants to be aggressive and vertical, scoring on every possession. As such, he favors the pass over the run, and operates heavily from the shotgun.

Additionally, he wants to put a lot of pressure on opposing defenses by operating at a high pace, getting as many snaps as possible and making defenders so pooped they crap themselves.

The run game is simple, particularly without a running quarterback. There is a lot of zone blocking (blockers are assigned an area, not a particular man to block) and Kelly’s approach is based on space and angles rather than power, though he does make frequent use of a lead blocker.

Mostly, he uses inside and outside zone-running plays, counters, and a dash or two here and there of power runs to add a little spice.

The concepts in the passing game are almost equally simple. Kelly prefers a vertical stem route tree aimed at getting upfield while giving the same initial motion just after the snap. While this sounds tricky, to use RichRod's vocabulary, it ain't.

The basic things are that the receivers divide the field into fourths, thus making it difficult for either one or even two deep safeties to defend all four.

The receivers burst off the line straight downfield with no fakes so that everybody looks like they're going deep. This scares the sh*t out of the entire secondary every time, which forces the defensive backs immediately into retreat position to respect the deep pass.

Most importantly, there are no tells—the receivers don't give away their pattern by their formation or initial fakes or stutter-steps—they might go deep or break short, or break inside or outside.

They may even stop at Home Depot if they have time, you just don't know.

Making the secondary retreat every play not only buys time to get a great deal on a circular saw, but also has the added benefit of opening up the underneath routes—the running back serves as a nice check-down as he has an under route and can basically find the open grass or just grab a quick smoke.

Put yourself in the position of the secondary: The receivers show the same initial action from the same formation, so there is nothing that can be done but knit a sweater until the moment the receivers break into their respective routes.

Kelly's quarterbacks often release the ball while the receiver is still running straight downfield, before he has made his break, so once the cut is made the ball is already there—the play is often over before the DB can put down his knitting needles.

A typical corner has no clue how to read and jump the pattern without just guessing.

And, particularly with a mobile QB, there is an extra benefit to making just about every pass pattern look like all verticals: The retreating secondary opens up room for the quarterback to scramble.

Kelly also likes to use overloaded formations to isolate receivers on the backside. This generates favorable one-on-one matchups for players like wide receiver Michael Floyd, or overloads the strong side of the field if the defense rolls the coverage to double the weak-side receiver, giving the offense a man advantage to work with on the strong side.

Taken together, these concepts accomplish Kelly's goal of being aggressive while still allowing his QB to work the field to find mismatches and take what the defense gives him.

It is so good that I have given him my permission to use it again in 2011.

 Notre Dame's 2010 Offense

As Charles Dickens will tell you, the Notre Dame offense in 2010 was the best of times, and the worst of times. He would also tell you that the Irish up-tempo offense screwed the pooch way too often.

What he can't tell you is why, since football wasn't invented until after he died.

As Mr. Dickens is too dead to help, let me take his place as one of the greatest writers of all time and answer the question that has plagued man for centuries: What is wrong with Notre Dame's offense?

Have a listen.

The Travesty

Something was definitely amiss.

With allegedly better athletes, Brian Kelly’s balls-out spread offense went from 38.6 PPG at Cincinnati in 2009 to a balls-in 26.3 PPG  at ND in 2010.

Obvious shrinkage.

This, of course, prompted the Irish faithful to ask the natural questions: “How does such a travesty happen?”, “Is it time to revoke his guruship?” and, of course, "Can I get my money back?"

In answer to the first question, like you, my obvious first thought was that Kelly got hit in the head on the trip to ND and forgot how to coach. U-Hauls are notorious for their bad shocks and low cab ceilings.

Medical tests have since disproven that theory, however, so I have to think it may be something else.

After three shots of whiskey and a big evening of Netflix, it came to me. It’s actually a myriad of reasons, all aggregating in an offense that was okay, but often inconsistent and sometimes downright awful.

With the help of such learned poets as Clashmore Mike and the vagaries of Yukon Jack with beer chasers, let’s take a look at what caused Kelly’s 2010 Irish machine to misfire.

Personnel

While Notre Dame’s offensive personnel was definitely a step up over Cincinnatti, there were a number of odd fits that played against what Kelly was trying to do.

Running Back

Before he was hurt, Armando Allen was the main back for the first half of 2010. He dedicated himself to gain more lower-body strength and showed a better blend of speed and power than in prior years.

Unfortunately, while a fairly capable back, Allen is a faster version of a tweener that doesn’t prosper as well in the one-on-one matchups that the spread promotes.

Though not slow, he doesn’t have the Steve Slaton flat-out burners to outrun defenses to the edge, and though strong, he doesn’t have Jonathon Stewart-type power to roll hapless defenders like bowling pins. The elusiveness of Jacquizz Rodgers was closer to Mr. Rodgers.

His size, speed, and elusiveness, other than an occasional bounce off a bad tackle, pretty much was a non-factor, meaning he didn’t have that one big skill to make him a true threat in the open field.

When he was the featured back in September, the rushing game struggled around 111 yards a game. When Cierre Wood’s sprinter’s repertoire with a little jiggly was the featured running back, the running game jumped to 143 yards per game for November.

While there were many other factors contributing to the late spike in ND’s running game, getting faster, more elusive personnel to complement Robert Hughes’ hammer at the point of attack helped immeasurably.

Offensive Line

While the offensive line did okay and got more efficient as they learned the nuances of the spread, they got jacked around by more athletic defenses and didn’t really start rolling into shape until after the Tulsa game.

The three highest rated and most athletic defenses ND faced in 2010 were probably USC, Stanford and Pitt.

For the trio, ND averaged 18.7 points, 233 yards passing and a paltry 93 yards rushing. Hardly an offensive juggernaut to say the least.

Against these defenses they were unable to control the front four and the running game was systematically caved before it got started. The QB was pressed into bad reads and lots of mistakes due to lack of time.

With plenty of disruption from the front four, nothing was open on the outside as the defense had extra people free to step into passing lanes and disrupt routes.

Ultimately, in many instances the offense had to bring in a TE and/or keep the running back in to block, making the offense one dimensional and giving the defense a clear edge in numbers that showed in the final box scores.

Although the line showed talent and adjusted well as the year wore on, overall in 2010 ND’s line was not as much of an asset as their size, experience and athleticism would normally dictate.

Wide Receiver

The spread needs lots of speed at receiver to keep defenses honest, but the Irish often didn’t have enough of it on the field at the same time.

Michael Floyd is a beast with underrated speed, but was hurt on and off and was the only true deep threat once Theo Riddick’s jets were shelved with a foot injury.

T.J. Jones filled his role well, but was not an intimidating factor that could keep things honest.

No one else did much to speak of, as a combination of lower talent and a freshman QB kept the passing game barely passable for the second half of the year.

The Irish averaged over 315 yards passing in September, typical passing numbers for a balanced spread offense. With a freshman QB and a dummied-down playbook, the Irish were barely able to pass for 164 per game in November.

Tight End

Physically, every ND tight end has the right combination of size, speed and skill for the spread.

Kyle Rudolph was a beast at TE, but had to play hurt and eventually shut down. Mike Ragone had his annual attempt at looking great before dropping key possession passes to keep the sticks moving, prompting the coaches to sit his talented ass down for yet another year.

Tight end Tyler Eifert stepped in to pick up the slack and did admirably, hitting the seam routes with good speed and soft hands.

Quarterback

In the one area that consistency was critical, in 2011 Brian Kelly had no idea what he was going to pull out of the quarterback bag on any given day.

Dayne Crist had a rocket arm and decent mobility, but the thin depth at QB limited the times his number was called for a run and he rarely scrambled for positive yardage.

His accuracy was streaky and his reads were often questionable as he had trouble adjusting from Charlie’s deliberate pro-style offense to the frenetic pace and timing of Kelly’s spread.

As Crist became more familiar with the system he seemed to be making sporadic progress before he got banged up in the Tulsa game, ending his learning curve for the year.

Tommy Rees stepped in and despite the eventual popularity of winning, was really more of a stop gap to prevent burning a redshirt year for the more athletic Andrew Hendrix.

After performing okay against the marginal defenses of Tulsa, Utah and Army, Rees was thoroughly intimidated by a tough USC squad as the USC front caved the pocket time and again and pressed the outside passing lanes with a vengeance.

With sloth-like mobility and a couple handfuls of scripted plays, Rees was a deer in headlights as the Trojans picked off three passes and dropped at least three more easy picks.

With both QBs, Kelly saw lots of interceptions, and with a completion percentage hovering way too low at around 60 percent, his fast-paced offense couldn’t keep the sticks moving enough to wear down the defenses and use the team's superb conditioning to win the fourth quarter.

Neither QB had enough mobility (or in Crist’s case durability) to run the zone read or scramble when the defense broke down, handicapping a sputtering offense even further.

Bottom Line

So, how did the travesty happen?

No, Brian Kelly was not konked in the head, but head konking and similar events did derail much of the season.

While expected with an offensive scheme transition as drastic as pro-style to spread, unfamiliarity with the many nuances of the spread often made an offense that has to be aggressive hesitant to press the play.

At times, both the O-Line and the receivers seemed to be a lot slower than their 40 times would suggest.

Injuries stunted the growth of many players and lengthened the learning curve in many key areas, as the rash of injuries at skill positions robbed the offense of the tools needed to develop and dominate.

As a microcosm of this point, Crist had nine series against Michigan at 8.9 yards per play with a total of 24 points. While Crist was out with his noggin konked, the other QBs had eight series, no points and 4.9 yards per play.

Overall, the QB inconsistency and dearth of experience of the replacements limited a lot of what Kelly could do with his offense in 2010.

Crist’s headbanging against Michigan and exit against Tulsa left Kelly with even less experience at QB, since Crist started the season with a whole 20 games under his belt.

With Crist out, spoon-feeding a freshman more or less limited what could be done as Kelly had to be painfully conservative to protect his freshman QB.

As a result, the progress the team was likely to make in the last half of the year went up in smoke as the playbook had to be contracted when it should have been expanding.

Injuries to his stud tight end, running back and various other receivers throughout the year added to the lack of continuity needed to get the offensive timing down and make his offense click.

Notre Dame’s 2011 Offense

So, what to expect in 2011?

After consulting at length with me, expect Brian Kelly to regain much of his gurudom (gurudocity?), as many of the 2010 issues are fixable, if not already fixed.

Personnel

The coaching staff gets back eight starters on offense and a host of kids that got meaningful playing time when pressed into action.

The experience in the spread is the biggest reason the Irish offense will take giant steps in 2011, and each position has talent and improvement slathered all over it like mayonnaise on my grilled chicken sandwich.

Most importantly, a smart coaching staff now knows what they have in the cookie jar.

Here’s what they have.

 Running Back

In the last two games, the Irish running game shined against some quality defenses.

The Irish rushed for over 143 yards at USC, including a final drive by the O-line and Robert Hughes that showed great push and conditioning by the line. They piled 196 yards on the ground on a pretty fair Miami defense in the Sun Bowl.

Although Hughes is gone, Cierre Wood seemed to be an upgrade over Armando Allen.

By the end of the year he was making good reads and using his superior speed to complement Kelly’s offense nicely.

Cierre Wood is a good fit for how Kelly does things, although it is a must that Jonas Gray finally shows he knows how to use his talent to spell Wood after his many long gains.

Depth is a big issue here, as sophomore Cameron Roberson is out for the year. Incoming freshmen Cam McDaniels and George Atkinson are likely to get a serious shot at running back just to add depth, and Atkinson is really more suited at receiver.

As for me, after a good night of whiskey pong, I am rarely in the mood to play running back, pretty much mooting me as a viable option.

To guard against the lack of depth, all running backs have a mandatory two-hour visit to the grotto every Tuesday and Thursday to light a few candles and pray for good health and a 100-yard game—not in that order, of course.

Although paper thin, this is a very capable group that can do everything Kelly wants, and more.

Offensive Line

While spread offenses give the headlines to the skill players, the real lifeblood of Kelly’s offense is the offensive line. If they can handle the defensive front to check the rush and provide good leverage for the running game, Kelly looks like the smartest coach ever.

Look for Kelly to become a friggin’ genius this year.

While the line improved as last season went on, it was still a work in process throughout most of the year as they slowly became accustomed to the higher pace and different technique demanded by the spread.

The 2010 Irish version of the Big Damn Uglies seemed to come together late in the USC game and in the Sun Bowl against Miami. With most people back, they will be a much bigger force in 2011, steadying the offense and giving way more opportunities for the running game to develop.

The returning group is deep and talented, and as well-conditioned as any Notre Dame line I have ever seen—even more in shape than me, and as we all know, I am pretty damn ripped.

Center Braxton Cave is on many watch lists, but there are lots of guys that could easily be considered as the line is rock solid and has plenty of depth at every position. (Sadly, even with a rash of injuries and my penchant for beefing up as the season plays out, it is unlikely I will see the field to pancake DE's yet again this year.)

Trust me, these boys are going to eat some defensive lines this year.

 Wide Receivers

This is another position where my lightning quickness and Olympic speed will not get me on the field, due mainly to that stupid scandal about fudging my forty-time to drop a minute or two.

Even without my raw skill, ND’s starting receivers can rock it, with Michael Floyd leading the way and Theo Riddick ready to pick up where he left off after a solid season marred by injury.

T.J. Jones will be a much bigger part of the offense now that he knows what he’s doing, allowing Crist & Co. to spread it around more and keep defenses guessing.

Reserve Robby Toma started to emerge down the stretch, and adds some quality depth and a good option in four wideout sets.

Incoming freshman Davaris Daniels is reputed to be a younger version of Michael Floyd in that he does not possess blazing speed, but uses long strides and excellent body control to make plays on the ball in the air.

He could become a fifth receiver if he can learn quickly.

The backups, like John Goodman and Deion Walker, are all experienced, serviceable additions that can spell starters and help if injuries become an issue.

Whereas no one in this group has world-class speed, they all have good ball skills and enough quickness to give defenses fits in the structure of this offense.

Tight Ends

As my stout refusal to put my beer down to run a seam route has nixed me from the TE depth chart, this position is in (literally) good hands.

Tyler Eifert had a breakout year last year and is the prototypical ND tight end. Mike Ragone (when he isn't slurping down brain fart soup) and Alex Welch are extremely talented backups that will see plenty of playing time.

As always, Notre Dame’s tight ends kick ass.

 Quarterback

Two torn rotator cuffs and the tendency for my ankles to swell after a big bender has understandably caused Kelly to cool on the idea of plugging me into the starting rotation. While frustrating from a career standpoint and I don’t agree, I respect his decision.

And I openly admit that even without me, ND will get tons more production out of the QB in 2011.

Kelly has two quarterbacks that have starting experience, after starting last year with no experience and a pair of kid gloves to handle them. 

If you thought Kelly was a yeller in 2010, expect him to be much more demanding in terms of scheme and execution this season.

Crist will start and build on his learning year, and has the gun to help Kelly exploit people downfield as he becomes more consistent with his reads.

Tommy Rees became the starter and somewhat of a fan favorite as the year played out, to the point where many are debating whether he should be the starter in 2011.

As much as I like the kid, he is not the answer at QB. Rees was a study in just how good Kelly is at working with what he’s got.

Rees is not swift and has a marginal arm at best, so Kelly scaled back the playbook and pretty much dictated what he would throw and when, micromanaging each game to take the pressure off of his freshman QB.

Kelly also got the running game more involved to shift the burden of the offense away from his first-year signal caller.

Overall, it worked. In five games, Rees threw for 1,106 yards, 12 TD’s against eight interceptions, and pocketed four wins in a row.

Note that when Jimmy Clausen got thrown into the fire in 2007 as a freshman under the tutelage of offensive/quarterback guru Charlie Weis, Clausen threw for 1,254 yards, seven TD’s and six interceptions in 10 games.

Kelly knows how to help his players succeed.

With valuable game experience, Rees is a solid backup plan that Kelly is happy to have in the event Crist goes down again, but his ceiling is limited and for ND to reach the next level they need a QB that can use Kelly’s offense to exploit the defense, not a QB that the offense has to plan around.

ND also has two more high potential guys in the wings in Andrew Hendrix and Everett Golson.

Look for Hendrix to pass Rees on the depth chart and get some work using his big arm as well as using his athleticism to gradually work the zone read into the offense.

Golson is going to redshirt and give himself a year to learn the system and build muscle around his great athleticism (he is generously listed at 6’0”, 175). He will be a factor in 2012 and beyond.

Summary

Notre Dame still doesn’t have the pure speed on the outside you might see in an SEC offense, but they are plenty quick and highly intelligent with proven game experience.

Cierre Wood is solid and fast, and has learned Kelly’s system. ND has a rugged and experienced offensive line, which will mean an improved running attack and a more balanced offense.

The extra year of Longo conditioning will further solidify a line that was already solid by the end of last season.

The big question is at QB, as it’s hard to tell whether Dayne Crist can overcome his injury history as well as his inconsistency and master this offense. Crist needs to do two things to make this offense fire: read the defense correctly and take shots downfield.

At times he has done it well, and at times he has not.

Being able to recognize coverage pre-snap, adjust the play when necessary and make smart throws during live action is imperative. The year of experience Crist had last year—playing some of the tougher defenses in the country—should pay off and make him a better QB right out of the gate.

If Crist struggles or goes down, ND is again stuck with Rees’ solid leadership but limited skills, or Hendrix’s solid skills and dearth of experience. Either way, expect a big drop off in productivity if Kelly has to do a work around with his QB again.

Coaching

This is not Kelly’s first rodeo, and considering all of the new coaches, the new system, the injuries and the off-field turmoil, Notre Dame made a lot of strides last year that should be extremely encouraging to the Irish faithful.

Despite the 8-5 record, Kelly showed some real chops in keeping this team together.

So much so that Notre Dame athletic director Swarbrick has declined to call me about a possible coaching successor for the first time in years.

While there is still a big question mark on whether ND has the quarterback needed to run this offense efficiently, just about every guy who has lined up for Kelly in recent years has had success, and his teams have won consistently under a variety of styles and talent.

There's a reason Notre Dame brought him in, and while he's a bright guy when it comes to X's and O's, it has more to do with his ability to coach players and prepare teams in the details.

In 2011 Kelly has the necessary pieces to have an extremely good offense next year, and if Crist blossoms, it could be elite.

Having seen what Kelly has done and what he has coming back, my money is on elite. Notre Dame will rock the end zone in 2011.