Brian Kelly Notebook: Previewing Miami

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Notre Dame and Miami have played just three times since the two programs squared off in some of the more memorable matchups in college football in the late 1980s.

From 1987-89, the winner of the Notre Dame-Miami game went on to claim the national championship with Miami claiming the 1987 and 1989 titles, and the Irish taking it in 1988. If it weren’t for a 29-20 Notre Dame win in 1990, the Hurricanes may have claimed the 1990 title as well.

The teams have met just three times since that 1990 meeting, after Miami joined the Big East Conference. Notre Dame has claimed all three with a 33-17 win in the 2010 Sun Bowl, a 41-3 thrashing of the Hurricanes at Soldier Field in 2012 and a 30-27 victory last season in South Bend.

This weekend could be the return to those famed matchups, with both teams heading into the matchup ranked for the first time since 1990. In the initial playoff rankings, Notre Dame came in at No. 3 and the Hurricanes were No. 10.

Notre Dame remained at No. 3 in the second set of rankings released Nov. 7, while the Hurricanes moved up to No. 7 after notching an impressive 28-10 win over Virginia Tech last weekend.

Both teams are vying for a potential playoff berth which will amp up the emotions this weekend in Miami.

“Mark Richt has done a terrific job of coaching a group of young men with great athletic traits,” Brian Kelly said during his weekly Tuesday press conference. “This football team that we play no doubt will require our very best.

“… I know our guys are excited about this championship drive that they are on now. This part of the season, obviously in November, all of the teams that are in contention are focused on one game at a time, and it’s single elimination for most teams.”

Like Notre Dame, Miami has been productive on offense. The Hurricanes are ranked No. 25 in the nation in total yards per game (461.0). Unlike the Irish, though, the Canes are getting the job done more through the air. Miami is No. 23 nationally in passing yards per game (288.3) and No. 55 in rushing yards per game (172.8).

Through eight contests, redshirt junior quarterback Malik Rosier has completed 56.2 percent of his passes for 2,273 yards with 19 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

“Rosier is a gritty kid,” Kelly said. “As a first-year starter, he finds ways to make plays. He’s a lot like [Irish junior quarterback] Brandon [Wimbush] when you look at him.

“He just finds ways to win football games, whether he’s going to run for a first down or make a key play. He keeps the drives alive.”

Rosier’s top two targets are senior wide receiver Braxton Berrios and senior tight end Christopher Herndon IV, who have combined for 68 receptions, 866 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. Kelly knows the Irish have quite the challenge ahead trying to keep both players in check.

“Braxton Berrios is the engine to that offense, no doubt about it, but he’s also extremely productive,” Kelly said. “It’s one thing to be the emotional leader, but he averages close to 15 yards per catch and I think he's somebody that you have to game plan for in the special teams game as a punt returner.

“And I think Herndon may be the best tight end that we see all year, in terms of his skill set. He’s a matchup problem for us that we have to identify. All in all, it is an offense that creates a lot of problems from the quarterback down to the receivers. Veteran offensive line, tight end, and the running back is certainly one that has stepped in there to do a great job.”

With star running back Mark Walton suffering a season-ending injury against Florida State in early October, sophomore Travis Homer has taken over as the featured back and averaged 100 rushing yards over the previous four contests with three games of at least 95 yards. Kelly described Homer as a “very shifty, athletic player that can go the distance and has really done a great job for them.”

The Miami defense also presents some challenges. The Hurricanes lead the country in tackles for loss with 8.8 per game.

Senior defensive lineman Demetrius Jackson — who is credited with seven tackles for loss — will miss the game, but the Hurricanes will offer a talented front seven to try and counter Notre Dame’s offensive line.

“You start with Jackson and [Chad] Thomas on the edge,” Kelly said of the Hurricanes defense. “Both of them are extremely athletic, can rush the quarterback, but also can play the run and can also track down a number of things that go on offensively.

“And when I mean track them down, they can make up for a lot of things that are going on defensively in terms of getting to the quarterback, chasing down a quarterback, chasing down plays from the back side, extremely athletic.”

Thomas will line up with senior Trent Harris and junior RJ McIntosh, the older brother of Notre Dame running back Deon McIntosh, who will man the interior for Mark Richt’s defense. Sophomore linebackers Shaquille Quarterman, Michael Pinckney and Zach McCloud round out the front seven.

“McIntosh and [senior Kendrick] Norton inside, disruptive, tackles for a loss,” Kelly noted. “It's an outstanding front four. The linebackers run and tackle as well as any group that we’ve played. Quarterman, Pinckney and McCloud, they don’t come off the field. They are guys that stay on the field in first, second and third down and we don’t see that very often.

“We see a team that shows themselves in terms of personnel quite a bit, in terms of taking the linebacker off the field and getting into nickel. They can play a number of different coverages by keeping three linebackers on the field and that’s pretty hard to do today in college football. A unique skill set in that group.”

To complement the playmakers up front, Miami’s secondary has recorded 14 interceptions this season.

“Then on the back end, [junior Jaquan] Johnson at the safety position is their leading tackler. Outstanding safety,” Kelly said. “[Junior safety Sheldrick] Redwine brings a nice skill set because he’s a former corner who can play the No. 2 receiver.

“Then depth at the cornerback position, [junior Michael] Jackson and [sophomore Malek] Young. [Fifth-year senior cornerback Dee] Delaney is probably healthy to play now so they have got great depth there.”

Kelly complemented Miami’s talent, but mentioned it goes beyond the individual talent of each player.

“It’s a well-coached team,” Kelly said of Miami. “You can see that. It’s a lot easier to put together a bunch of talented players, but to coach them, get them in the right position, line them up, getting this group to play together with a great amount of energy, Mark’s done a great job. Really good football team.”

Kelly, as usual, provided injury updates as the team gets into practice preparations for the Hurricanes, including Wimbush and junior running back Josh Adams.

“They are good,” Kelly explained. “They had a great day in the weight room yesterday physically. So there are no concerns about their readiness and what their physical stature is for going into the game.”

Kelly followed it with updates on junior running back Dexter Williams, junior tight end Alizé Mack and fifth-year senior wide receiver Cam Smith.

“Dexter, his explosion was back yesterday in our high clean-pull,” Kelly stated. “I’d say he’s getting closer and closer. You saw that he didn’t have that full speed on Saturday, but I think we’re getting closer there. We’re optimistic for a good week.

“Alizé will practice today. And Cam is going to go today. We took another picture of that hamstring. Didn’t quite like what we saw, but we’re going to let him stretch it out today and see how it goes. We saw a little bit of some cloudiness in that hamstring. We’ll see how it goes today. And hopefully he’s able to be at full-go.”

Despite the 48-37 win over Wake Forest last Saturday, Kelly and several Irish players mentioned the defensive effort was not up to their standard after giving up nearly 600 yards to the Demon Deacons.

In order to improve moving forward against a top-25 offense in Miami, Kelly pinpointed the unit’s week of practice as the key.

“Preparation needs to be better,” Kelly said. “We didn’t prepare quite the way we had prepared in other weeks. We just need to go back to our process, and our process has to be the thing that drives our defense and our offense each and every week.

“So if you were in our meeting yesterday, you would have seen that Wednesday wasn’t the same Wednesday practice as it was the previous weeks, and it showed itself in the way we played against Wake Forest.

“There’s no — they didn’t find the key to unlock the secrets of the [Mike] Elko defense. ... This is really about playing with the right intensity and the right mental approach to the game. We just didn’t prepare in the manner that we prepared in the other weeks, and we’ll do that and we’ll need to do that moving forward.”

The Hurricanes and the NFL’s Miami Dolphins share Hard Rock Stadium during the fall, and during the NBC telecast of Sunday Night Football between the Dolphins and Oakland Raiders, it was reported the playing surface had been replaced four times since the Dolphins began their preseason in August.

Kelly touched on the playing conditions and if it would change their game plan in any fashion.

“We’re not going to change who we are,” Kelly said. “We might change our shoes. Certainly today, we’ll wear screw-ins, instead of the molded [cleats], and try those out. We haven’t used a screw-in shoe. It limits what you can do, because you can’t go from field turf and use the screw-in on field turf and then go on the grass. So one unit has got to stay on the grass the whole time. It changes how you practice.

“But I think we are going to put probably one of the units in screw-in today and one of the units — offense or defense, I haven’t decided — in molded and maybe switch it, just so they get the screw-in shoe on them for the first time; and then have that option to use a screw-in, instead of a molded on Saturday.

“We have options for the field conditions and that’s all we — I just want to produce options for our guys, and if we don’t do it here on Tuesday and Wednesday and we don’t have that, I don’t want to throw a screw-in cleat on a kid that’s never used it before, because it’s a different shoe.”

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