Brian Kelly assesses offensive line play, how USC exploited bye week

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly went in-depth assessing the play of his offensive line as the unit has rounded in the form in recent weeks, helping jumpstart the Fighting Irish rushing attack.

“I think what I was most pleased with is, first of all, you’re gaining some continuity on the offensive line,” Kelly said on Monday. “Where essentially that left side is working together now, which helps the entire group, five working together.”

USC offered a different look defensively than they had all season, but Brian Kelly was pleased with how his offensive line responded.

“What they really did well is, as I mentioned just before I answered some of your questions, was that USC came out in three down,” he said. “They hadn’t played three down all year and then obviously implementing a scheme in a 3-5-3, that’s a lot of identification. That’s a lot of communication. It’s a lot of work up front. I thought the adjustments that they made in game were really outstanding. They picked up things as the game went on. There’s some things that we’ll need to clean up on but I think that’s what stands out to me more than anything else, their ability to make the in game adjustments, and work really well together and the communication was outstanding.”

After failing to get things going on the ground early in the season, especially against Wisconsin, when Notre Dame had just three total rushing yards, the Fighting Irish offense has been stabilized largely in part to replacements on the left side of the line. Redshirt junior Andrew Kristofic replaced Zeke Carroll at left guard in place of Zeke Correll during the Virginia Tech game and freshman Joe Alt has started each of the last two games at left tackle.

“I just think that there’s less of a burden on the center,” Kelly said. “I think (center) Jarrett Patterson is just playing freer. I think there’s just a feeling that the five work. I think you’re always trying to find the combinations and how they work well. They just seem to work well together, there is better communication. I think Alt is a guy that really communicates well and that passes on down the line to Andrew and then into the center position. So, I just think it’s not just one guy, I think I think they all just work well together.”

Marshall grad transfer right guard Cain Madden has only gotten better through the season in his first year with the program.

“He’s playing,” Kelly said. “It just seems like there is less of an expectation on him. It has allowed him to play free, faster, more physical and again, I think maybe some of those expectations could be part of the reason why.”

Sitting at 6-1 on the season, Brian Kelly and the Fighting Irish now look towards a matchup with a North Carolina team that has underperformed relative to preseason expectations, but the Fighting Irish cannot be caught off-guard. The Tar Heels still have talent on the roster, with Kelly going as far to say that North Carolina has as much talent on its roster as the likes of Cincinnati, a team currently ranked No. 2 in the country.

Kickoff for Saturday’s game is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.