It's a discrepancy that cannot be overlooked. Twentieth in the nation in passing offense. Twenty ninth in total offense. Eighty first in scoring offense.
While much has already been said about Saturday's heartbreaking loss to Michigan and how it all could have been different, this is a deeper issue. That's not to say Dayne Crist's absence from most of the first half did not have a tremendously adverse effect on the offense's production. Clearly it did.
True freshman Tommy Rees played two series. The first one ended on its second play when his first collegiate pass was picked off to set up a Michigan touchdown. His second series faltered and he exited the game without picking up a first down.
He was replaced by Nate Montana, who also struggled. Montana - who clearly did not receive anything football-related from his father, other than the name - didn't move the ball much better. On six series, Notre Dame picked up a whole six first downs. Three of those came on the last drive of the first half - a series that required a personal foul penalty to continue the drive and yielded no points, despite the Irish getting down to the Michigan three-yard line.
But let's not forget that Crist was far from perfect. Yes, on his first drive he was 5-of-7 passing and scored the opening touchdown, even after taking a hit that left him with blurred vision that led to him being held out for the rest of the half. And yes, when he returned, his second pass of the half was a 53-yard touchdown to bring the Irish to within a touchdown.
After that, however, Crist completed just four of his next 12 passes for 61 yards and threw an interception after a missed Michigan field goal before his unbelievable heave to Kyle Rudolph that would have instantly made him a Notre Dame legend had the defense been able to contain Denard Robinson and prevent that final touchdown.
Considering the offense was without its most valuable member for almost a half, it's impressive that they were able to put up a whopping 535 yards of total offense. But when you rack up that much yardage, you had better come away with more than 24 points to show for it.
Brian Kelly is a guy who usually gets a lot out of his offense. Cincinnati ranked fourth in 2009 and 17th in 2007 in scoring offense and neither of those teams had a receiver at the same caliber of Michael Floyd or Kyle Rudolph.
Rudolph has lived up to the All-American hype he has received, but elsewhere, Kelly is still trying to piece it together. After two games last season, Michael Floyd had 11 catches for 320 yards and four touchdowns, including 131 yards and a score against these Wolverines. This season, Floyd has 10 catches for over half the yardage and no scores (though, admittedly, one of the receptions he had against Purdue would have been a touchdown had he not fumbled).
Armando Allen has done well as a runner, but Kelly has failed to see is value as a receiver out of the backfield. He has just two catches for nine yards. He converted running back Theo Riddick into a slot receiver in a move that has proved to be a dud so far (two catches, three yards). Freshman T.J. Jones has been a nice surprise scoring big touchdowns in both of the team's two games.
Kelly was given a raw deal in terms of what he has to work with this season because of how poor Charlie Weis was as a recruiter. However, Kelly knew this when he took the job and now it's his job to figure out how to make it all work.
To kick or not to kick
There has been much ado about Kelly's decision to go for the touchdown on Michigan's three-yard line and the argument is pretty understandable.
If Kelly kicks the field goal and gets some points, at the end of the game, Notre Dame would only have to kick a field goal to win the game. But by that logic, if the Irish had scored a touchdown there, a field goal wouldn't have been necessary at all. Even if Robinson scores with 27 seconds remaining, his team is still down by three points with that much time left.
The issue wasn't the play call. The issue was the execution. In that situation, Montana has to give his playmakers the chance to make a play. It's the end of the quarter. An interception is meaningless. Use the one gift you have - arm strength - and drill one into the end zone that your receivers at least have a chance at.
Kelly has left a lot to be desired in terms of getting big plays from his big play guys, but this instance was not on him.
Other than Crist, the cupboard is bare
If there's one thing that should worry Irish fans about Kelly and his spread offense, it's that he goes through his share of quarterbacks. Zach Collaros appeared in 12 games in relief or starting in the place of Tony Pike last year in Cincinnati. It worked out for the Bearcats because Collaros, as a mobile quarterback, actually fit Kelly's offense well and he actually provided more options for the team.
The same cannot be said for the Irish. When Crist came out of the game, there was a clear difference not only in the abilities of the athletes, but even the offense being run. Kelly immediately went more conservative with tighter sets and showed virtually no confidence in either quarterback's ability to run his offense.
Should Crist have to miss any significant amount of time, it will be a very long year for the Irish.
Defending the defense
While some may find it hard to find a bright spot in a defense that gave up 532 yards of total offense, including 502 to one player, the Notre Dame defense did do some nice things.
The third quarter was an especially good one of the the Irish, who allowed just three first downs in that stanza.
Also, Michigan was only able to convert three of 16 third downs into first downs and on the season have allowed only 24.24 percent of their opponents to convert on third down, which is good for 18th in the country.
Darius Flemming, who barely played in the opener because of cramping, had a very nice game for the Irish. He recorded six total tackles and came up with a huge second-half pass deflection. By the end of the season, he could be a household name.
Manti Te'o did show improvement with 13 total tackles, including one for a loss, but still had some pretty big misses in key situations. "Baby Seau" needs to stay at home a bit more.
While much has already been said about Saturday's heartbreaking loss to Michigan and how it all could have been different, this is a deeper issue. That's not to say Dayne Crist's absence from most of the first half did not have a tremendously adverse effect on the offense's production. Clearly it did.
True freshman Tommy Rees played two series. The first one ended on its second play when his first collegiate pass was picked off to set up a Michigan touchdown. His second series faltered and he exited the game without picking up a first down.
He was replaced by Nate Montana, who also struggled. Montana - who clearly did not receive anything football-related from his father, other than the name - didn't move the ball much better. On six series, Notre Dame picked up a whole six first downs. Three of those came on the last drive of the first half - a series that required a personal foul penalty to continue the drive and yielded no points, despite the Irish getting down to the Michigan three-yard line.
But let's not forget that Crist was far from perfect. Yes, on his first drive he was 5-of-7 passing and scored the opening touchdown, even after taking a hit that left him with blurred vision that led to him being held out for the rest of the half. And yes, when he returned, his second pass of the half was a 53-yard touchdown to bring the Irish to within a touchdown.
After that, however, Crist completed just four of his next 12 passes for 61 yards and threw an interception after a missed Michigan field goal before his unbelievable heave to Kyle Rudolph that would have instantly made him a Notre Dame legend had the defense been able to contain Denard Robinson and prevent that final touchdown.
Considering the offense was without its most valuable member for almost a half, it's impressive that they were able to put up a whopping 535 yards of total offense. But when you rack up that much yardage, you had better come away with more than 24 points to show for it.
Brian Kelly is a guy who usually gets a lot out of his offense. Cincinnati ranked fourth in 2009 and 17th in 2007 in scoring offense and neither of those teams had a receiver at the same caliber of Michael Floyd or Kyle Rudolph.
Rudolph has lived up to the All-American hype he has received, but elsewhere, Kelly is still trying to piece it together. After two games last season, Michael Floyd had 11 catches for 320 yards and four touchdowns, including 131 yards and a score against these Wolverines. This season, Floyd has 10 catches for over half the yardage and no scores (though, admittedly, one of the receptions he had against Purdue would have been a touchdown had he not fumbled).
Armando Allen has done well as a runner, but Kelly has failed to see is value as a receiver out of the backfield. He has just two catches for nine yards. He converted running back Theo Riddick into a slot receiver in a move that has proved to be a dud so far (two catches, three yards). Freshman T.J. Jones has been a nice surprise scoring big touchdowns in both of the team's two games.
Kelly was given a raw deal in terms of what he has to work with this season because of how poor Charlie Weis was as a recruiter. However, Kelly knew this when he took the job and now it's his job to figure out how to make it all work.
To kick or not to kick
There has been much ado about Kelly's decision to go for the touchdown on Michigan's three-yard line and the argument is pretty understandable.
If Kelly kicks the field goal and gets some points, at the end of the game, Notre Dame would only have to kick a field goal to win the game. But by that logic, if the Irish had scored a touchdown there, a field goal wouldn't have been necessary at all. Even if Robinson scores with 27 seconds remaining, his team is still down by three points with that much time left.
The issue wasn't the play call. The issue was the execution. In that situation, Montana has to give his playmakers the chance to make a play. It's the end of the quarter. An interception is meaningless. Use the one gift you have - arm strength - and drill one into the end zone that your receivers at least have a chance at.
Kelly has left a lot to be desired in terms of getting big plays from his big play guys, but this instance was not on him.
Other than Crist, the cupboard is bare
If there's one thing that should worry Irish fans about Kelly and his spread offense, it's that he goes through his share of quarterbacks. Zach Collaros appeared in 12 games in relief or starting in the place of Tony Pike last year in Cincinnati. It worked out for the Bearcats because Collaros, as a mobile quarterback, actually fit Kelly's offense well and he actually provided more options for the team.
The same cannot be said for the Irish. When Crist came out of the game, there was a clear difference not only in the abilities of the athletes, but even the offense being run. Kelly immediately went more conservative with tighter sets and showed virtually no confidence in either quarterback's ability to run his offense.
Should Crist have to miss any significant amount of time, it will be a very long year for the Irish.
Defending the defense
While some may find it hard to find a bright spot in a defense that gave up 532 yards of total offense, including 502 to one player, the Notre Dame defense did do some nice things.
The third quarter was an especially good one of the the Irish, who allowed just three first downs in that stanza.
Also, Michigan was only able to convert three of 16 third downs into first downs and on the season have allowed only 24.24 percent of their opponents to convert on third down, which is good for 18th in the country.
Darius Flemming, who barely played in the opener because of cramping, had a very nice game for the Irish. He recorded six total tackles and came up with a huge second-half pass deflection. By the end of the season, he could be a household name.
Manti Te'o did show improvement with 13 total tackles, including one for a loss, but still had some pretty big misses in key situations. "Baby Seau" needs to stay at home a bit more.
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