Notre Dame & The Shotgun: ‘It’s What We Do’

One of the more crucial and overshadowed moments in Notre Dame’s 34-31 loss to Virginia Tech this weekend came during the first quarter.

With the Irish leading 7-0 and after recovering a Hokies fumble at midfield, the Notre Dame offense methodically ran the ball on eight consecutive plays for 32 yards, and it also was aided by an offside penalty against the Hokies. Finally, on the ninth play, quarterback DeShone Kizer went to the air and completed a quick pass to freshman Kevin Stepherson for 11 yards and a first-and-goal at the Virginia Tech 2-yard line.

That’s why Irish head coach Brian Kelly took slight offense to a question on Sunday about the Irish not being a more “physical” team on offense with a power running attack and a commitment to the run. The Irish ran the ball 23 times for 100 yards in the first half alone while taking a 24-14 lead, and then led by sophomore Josh Adams’ 67-yard score to make it 31-21, it added exactly 100 more yards in the second half on 13 carries.

“We rushed for 200 yards against one of the best rush defenses in college football,” Kelly noted when asked about not being more physical. “I don’t know where that perception has come from, really, to be honest with you, if I look at it.”

But that takes us back to the first-and-goal at the 2-yard line in the first quarter. It is in those situations where the “power” game or the physical nature of a team most earns its reputation.

On first down, Kizer rushed for one yard to the 1-yard line, and on second Adams — who scored from a yard out minutes earlier — was stopped about a foot short of the goal line. So with the tip of the football near the goal line, on third down Kizer, who says he holds about 250 pounds on his 6-4½ frame, remained in the shotgun formation.

This is where some angst or aggravation might settle in among old-school football aficionados. What is the point of the ball being so close to the goal line when the snap will be received back around the 8-yard line? Why not just go under center, get a push up front and have Kizer wedge through the line, a la Bart Starr for the Green Bay Packers in the famous 1967 Ice Bowl versus Dallas? Anything more would seem to be overthinking the situation.

So when the shotgun snap went awry, Notre Dame ended up losing seven yards and had to settle for a field goal instead of having two more chances from the one-inch line. It later proved to be an important difference in the defeat. But fumbles can occur anytime, anywhere, even in a direct snap from center.

The answer for Kelly is simple. You are who you are as a football team, and you don’t stray from the identity.

“It’s what we do … that’s what we're comfortable with,” Kelly said of the shotgun in that situation. “That’s what we practice every day. It was a little bit too far out to go direct snap in that situation. We had the option — we have a couple of direct-snap plays.

“We were going to run quarterback power on that play, and it was blocked very well, and the only problem is we mishandled the snap … unfortunately that was an unforced error.”

Kizer set a school record with 10 rushing touchdowns by a QB last year, and he was going to get the call on that play, too.

“We feel like the big quarterback in that situation and running him was the right call at that time on third down,” Kelly said. “Virginia Tech on most of their key situations, they ran the quarterback. We like that play on third down. We just obviously didn’t execute it with bobbling the snap, something that we [practice] every day.”

Kelly also is often derided for relying in the red zone so much on the fade into the end zone — but Virginia Tech tied the score at 31 in the fourth quarter on a second-and-goal from the seven with a fade to 6-7 Bucky Hodges.

When a play is executed well, it’s celebrated. When it isn’t, the coach often gets vilified. It’s part of the job description.

“If we had to do it all over again, we should have thrown the ball a little bit more,” Kelly said. “They were in a lot more pressure fronts, especially in the third and fourth quarter, a lot more man-to-man coverage, and that was the nature of the game.

“They mix it up pretty good up front, but to have a rushing game that rushes and creases the defense like it did for 200 yards, if we went into that with the thought that we were going to rush for 200 yards, I probably would have taken it.”

In defeat, even a coach will second-guess himself.

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