Brian Kelly has 2 weeks to get this straightened out before heading into some rough waters. Whatever offense he’s running, it is not working. Opponents, have rightly concluded that ND cannot consistently complete passes deep at all and only sometimes short at best. So it is no surprise that they jam the box and blitz often. Supposedly the threat of a running QB should help negate that.

May not be fair, but Golson so far just does not seem to me to be the future–in today’s CFB you need a good passer at QB–guy that can throw long with touch. Outside of Kiel we don’t have one, and we still don’t know if he has these attributes.

So Kelly sticking with Golson but is this a 3 year project something akin to Michigan hoping that for Denard the light would come on. Bet Brady Hoke can’t wait for his type of QB–big passer.

Biggest assist for any QB is good running attack but that is hard to do with 8 in the box and not using your best running back. Kelly keeps reminding everyone he’ been coaching 21 years and has seen it all. Now with a mobile QB he is still not running the type of offense–fast and high scoring–that got him the ND job. He says he’s evolving but all he’s evolved to is a one dimension offense.

The running stats so far–take Navy out of the equation, and it’s alarming:

• Navy-Rush 46-293 yds Pass 16-23 197 yds Total 490 yds
• Purdue-Rush 36-52 yds Pass 24-39 324 yds Total 376 yds
• Michigan State- Rush 34-122 yds Pass 14-32 178 yds Total 300 yds
• Michigan Rush 31-94 yds Pass 11-19 yds Total 239 yds.
• Average Rush 3.8 yds Average Pass 13 yds and this includes Navy

The decline is obvious. Now we move into the part of the schedule where we meet passing QB’s and I include Boston College–their QB Rettig can air it out.

Total reliance on the defense to pull each game out is not a good option and what do you do if Tuitt or Nix get hurt?

2 Weeks– let’s see if Kelly has it or is just another glib talker.