Patience is wearing thin after five seasons of the Brian Kelly era at Notre Dame. The Irish are coming off a lackluster 8-5 season that followed a 9-4 campaign in 2013. Outside of their perfect storm of a season in 2012 in which they went 12-1 and were routed in the national championship game, the Kelly era bears little difference from those of Charlie Weiss, Tyrone Willingham, and Bob Davie. Notre Dame has finished in the final top ten rankings just twice since Lou Holtz’s 1993 team went 11-1.
To end this season, the Irish limped back to South Bend with five losses in their last six regular season games before salvaging some pride in a 31-28 Music City Bowl win over LSU. Kelly has much on his plate starting with a potential quarterback controversy.
Golson or Zaire?
Notre Dame’s win over LSU was a welcome respite for their weary fans but has also ignited a debate about next year’s starting quarterback. Everett Golson was last year’s starter but Malik Zaire was impressive in the win over LSU as he completed 12 of 16 passes good for 96 yards and a touchdown. Golson was six out of 11 for 90 yards in that same game. The difference was Zaire’s rushing ability as he had 96 yards on 22 carries with a touchdown.
The potential remains that both could see action and rotate throughout games. But as the old football adage goes, if you have two quarterbacks you actually have none.
Offensive Identity
The fact that Notre Dame powered for 246 yards rushing in their win over LSU, a strong SEC defensive power, is indicative of their improved and deeper offensive line. The Irish will have fierce competition for playing time at that position. The potential for Notre Dame to become a smash mouth running team is there and Notre Dame should vastly improve from its final 2014 ranking of 70th in the nation for rushing yardage. As Ohio State proved in their national championship win over Oregon, football is still a physical and line-oriented game. Finesse teams rarely complete the sale for a national title.
Kicking Concerns
A major area of worry heading into 2015 is in the kicking game. Kicker Kyle Brindza will graduate and leaves as the all-time career leader for field goals at Notre Dame with 57. He was also a solid punter. Time and again we see that an ace field goal kicker is imperative for close ball games in a championship run.
Defensive Depth
After a solid start under first year defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, the lack of depth on the roster took its toll. Notre Dame finished 73rd in the nation for total defense and 84th for points allowed. Those numbers cannot sustain a championship run and building defensive depth is a top priority.
