Indeed..better athletes running system ND has struggled with.

Ahhhh okay, gotcha. That would indeed make sense.

…I’m still scared shitless of them

Tex,

I think you are misinterpreting me a little. I’m referencing Tech from the perspective of the ND fan base. If ND mimicked or mirrored Tech’s performance year in and year many would be livid. Johnson is 33-21 at Tech those numbers are more Davie than Dominant.

I certainly understand the point about passing and completely agree. Offensive totals as a whole have risen to the point in which you are going to certainly see a solid passing offense in the cream of the crop when 400-500 yards/game total is the norm.

I will say though that I think you might be sleeping on the Bees a little. “Can’t even win the ACC” is a little harsh considering they gave playoff-bound Florida State quite a scare in the ACC title game last season (losing only by 2).

GT also beat the following teams last season: Clemson, Georgia, and Mississippi State (in the Orange Bowl no less).

In fact, GT is easily one of the teams I am absolutely terrified of next season for ND. With previous recent struggles against Navy, I certainly fear what a more athletic triple option team could potentially do to the Irish.

I can’t argue with any of your points about the Defense. At the end of the day most people could care less what Kelly runs as long as they win. George Perles said it best…”When we lose everything I do is wrong, when we win I could walk down the street backwards with my finger up my ass and the same people will say….See that’s how it should be done.” Believe it or not some people actually believe Holtz should have won more.

There’s some semantics here, and I certainly see what you’re getting at Jimmy. Might I play devil’s advocate though?

2009 Alabama won a National Title. They were 101 out of 120 teams in passing yards percentage (amount of total yards earned by passing the ball) and averaged just 194 passing yards per game (87th nationally). They ranked 13th nationally in rushing (207.5 yards per game), ranked 5th nationally in points per game allowed (18.8) and 7th nationally in points per play allowed.

I’ll concede that their play mix was not in the same neighborhood as Lou’s 1988 squad (who rushed the ball about 75% of the time), but in terms of philosophy, where the yards eventually came from, and defense first mentality, 2009 Alabama serves as a pretty strong argument that that style can still work.

(Aside: Note I don’t use 2012 Alabama as that team was amazingly efficient passing the ball as well)

I don’t think Georgia Tech is really a great example. They can’t even win the ACC even though I think Johnson is a good coach. My point was more that you will never see a team that is so run heavy win a title again. In this day and age you couldn’t average barely 100 yards passing and win it. Also those Oregon teams still rolled up a ton of yards throwing too. My point I guess was more directed at those wanting a complete return to power football of the Holtz days will likely be waiting a long time. Earlier in the summer I watched a repeat of the ’93 game when they manhandled Florida St. (Later resulting in the biggest fraud in college football history). I laughed when I saw ND in the T Formation inside the 10. Laughing at much the game has changed.

I don’t think that’s the case at all. Just look at Georgia Tech. It took a few years, but Paul Johnson has a damn good team that I don’t think anyone wants to face and he gets damn good athletes to run the triple option to boot.

Spread systems, in my opinion, are more of a result of the evolution a game in which you must constantly adjust to succeed. Even back into the early 90’s, you had loads of teams running either an option or power running attack. Eventually, defenses figured it out and offensive minds started spreading the field.

And there are loads of wrinkles to the spread too. Kelly has shown quite a few at ND depending on his QB. For instance, he went to an option and run-heavy attack with Zaire against LSU and has also adjusted his offense to a non-mobile QB like Rees.

Oregon has made a living on a fast spread attack that relies quite heavily on the run. Urban Meyer had a spread option offense at Utah, had a different packages depending on his QB at Florida, and now he can have more of a power attack at Ohio State.

High schools have gone this route too as has the NFL. So the transition is easier to make at each level of play.

I think the bigger debate typically held among ND fans is the frequency of running and the style in which they do it. I don’t think anyone is really calling for a return to Lou’s offense, but more of seeing more a strong, power style instead of one based off misdirection and stretching the field. Notre Dame certainly has the athletes to do that.