Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com PRESEASON 2019 39 BY LOU SOMOGYI T he number — 37.6 — remains in the Notre Dame record books almost as a way of taunt- ing the Fighting Irish offense's inability to reach the first-tier level in today's college football. That figure is the all-time single- season scoring mark by the football program set in 1968 during a 7-2-1 campaign under fifth-year head coach Ara Parseghian. Even the 5-4 team in 1905 that pad- ded its numbers with a 142-0 thrash- ing of American Medical and a 71-0 victory versus DePauw ended up av- eraging only 34.7 for the year. The lone Notre Dame teams since 1968 to reach 37 points per contest oc- curred in 1992 (37.2) and 1996 (37.0) — but the former didn't include a 28-3 victory versus Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl, which would have dropped the mark to 36.4. In head coach Brian Kelly's first nine seasons from 2010-18, the best marks were 34.2 during 10-3 finishes in 2015 and 2017. When Kelly took over the program in 2010, premier college football pro- grams began rewriting the school re- cord books when it came to scoring with faster paced, spread looks in a more scoring-friendly era via the pass. Tallying at least 40 points per con- test instead of 30 to 35 became the new benchmark of excellence. In 2010, the two teams that met for the national title, Oregon and Auburn, finished the season with 47.0 and 41.2 scoring averages, respectively. When Alabama won the national title the following year (2011), it av- eraged a more than respectable 34.8 points per game, but still relied fore- most on defense to carry the day, which it did with a 21-0 shutout of LSU in the national title showdown. However, Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban also recognized the shift in football, and it showed in last year's four-team College Football Playoff (CFP). • Oklahoma finished No. 1 in scor- ing at 48.4 points per game. • Alabama was No. 3 nationally in scoring output with a 45.6 figure. • National champion Clemson came in at No. 4 with a 44.3 output — and reached that figure in a rout of Alabama in the title game. Standing to the side as the fourth CFP team was Notre Dame with a much more modest 31.4 average that ranked 41st nationally. Under first-year coordinator Chip Long in 2017, the Irish offense was on the cusp of finally breaking the 1968 school standard of scoring by averaging 41.3 points during an 8-1 start that had them in top-four CFP contention … and then came the 41-8 debacle at No. 7 Miami. Two weeks later, there was the 38-20 defeat at Stanford. By the end of the year, the scoring number was down to 34.2. Still good, but not first-tier level. The outstanding 12-0 regular sea- son last year merited much to cele- brate about, but the lack of firepower on offense versus the "biggest boys" was exposed again in the 30-3 CFP loss to Clemson. During the Kelly era, Notre Dame has faced 14 teams that finished in the Associated Press top 10. Its record in those matchups is just 2-12, with victories against Stanford in 2012 (20-13 in overtime) and Michigan State in 2013 (17-13). Notre Dame has averaged only 20.0 points in those top-10 games. It is something to keep in mind for the Sept. 21 outing at No. 3 Georgia. TOP THREE STORYLINES: AUG. 4-19 Can the veteran offense under Long, now in his third season, eclipse the 51-year school scoring standard? The top pieces in place include: • Senior quarterback Ian Book, whose 154.0 passing rating in 2018, highlighted by a school-record 68.2 percent completion rate, was the best in the Kelly era. • Top two returning receivers, senior Chase Claypool (50 catches in 2018) and fifth-year senior Chris Finke (49), with a little more vertical speed added in sophomores Law- rence Keys III and Braden Lenzy, nei- ther of whom was physically ready last season. • Four returning starters along the offensive line: seniors Liam Eichen- berg (left tackle) and Tommy Krae- mer (right guard), and juniors Rob- ert Hainsey (right tackle) and Aaron Banks (left guard), with sophomore Jarrett Patterson the newcomer at center. • A running back tandem in ju- nior Jafar Armstrong and senior Tony Jones Jr. who combined for 775 rush- ing yards, 5.0 yards per carry and 10 touchdowns in 2018, and averaged an impressive 15.8 yards on their 20 combined catches. Here were the top storylines on offense as BGI went to press Aug. 20: 1. Cut Off At The Pass? The passing attack took numerous blows when three of the top five po- tential targets this season — junior tight end Cole Kmet, junior wide re- ceiver Michael Young and perhaps sophomore Kevin Austin — were sidelined with either broken collar- bones (see page 41) or an undisclosed disciplinary matter. Some creativity with two-back sets featuring Armstrong and Jones, among others, could help allay those setbacks, but Kelly is especially re- lieved to have Book in the lineup. "His confidence starts to breed confidence throughout the entire unit," he said. "We're seeing that when you have an incumbent quar- terback — which I don't have a lot of familiarity during my time at Notre Dame. It's kind of a nice feeling." How the Fighting Irish and Book will be able to stretch defenses ver- tically will not be answered until the actual season begins, but Kelly believes more shots will be taken SCORE ( S ) TO SETTLE Notre Dame's offense attempts to reach a more productive level Junior running back Jafar Armstrong is expected to make big-play contributions in both the run and pass game. He will work in tandem with senior Tony Jones Jr. PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER