Notre Dame vs UNLV - Keys To An Irish Victory

Notre Dame (3-3) looks to get back on track today against the UNLV Rebels (4-3), who have lost two straight games. If Notre Dame is going to not only win, but build momentum for a tough five-game stretch to finish the season it will need the offense to get rolling.

There are a number of important keys to victory for the Fighting Irish offense, and we break down the ones that are not only most important to a win over UNLV, but also are important to building momentum for the next few games.

Here are our keys to victory for the Irish offense:

1. Start Fast - Notre Dame has scored just six points in the first quart of its six games. It doesn't get much better when you look at the first two possessions of each game. The Irish offense simply must figure out why it struggles so much out of the gate and fix it. Point two is one area that can help, but overall the offense must find a way to execute better out of the gate, play with a far greater sense of urgency early in the game and someone needs to step up and start making early plays.

2. Push The Tempo - One of the problems in recent weeks has been the heavy emphasis on the scan offense, which not only results in far too much volume being included in the game plan, but it also saps away much of the ability to get into an offensive rhythm. It would be very, very wise for the Notre Dame coaches to limit how much that is used and come out and push the tempo with greater frequency.

This would force the staff to limit the scope of the offense, which should help the players have more confidence in their assignments. It would force the players to play with more urgency. It would also give quarterback Drew Pyne a chance to get into a good early rhythm, which is another key to a fast start. This needs to be coupled with an adjustment in scheme that helps this type of offense thrive, mainly greater use of RPOs to help complement and protect the run game.

3. Get The Receivers Involved - Having a pass game built around tight end Michael Mayer and the running backs (at least in the few games we saw that) makes a lot of sense for this team. What has been problematic, however, is the lack of involvement by the wideouts. Early in the season that was partly due to the wideouts not playing well, but they have performed better in recent games. Against UNLV, a team with a weak secondary, the matchup is perfect for Tommy Rees to force the wideouts more into the game plan.

Getting veteran Braden Lenzy going would be nice, and Notre Dame absolutely must figure out a way to get Lorenzo Styles rolling. That could be a major key to getting the offense on track. Making freshman Tobias Merriweather and sophomore Deion Colzie a great part of the game plan is also something that would be a huge boost for Pyne and would help protect the tight end and run game to a greater degree.

If Notre Dame can't get the wideouts going against this secondary I'm not sure when, or if, it happens.

4. Make The Backs A Focal Point - We saw the backs rip up California in the pass game and they were outstanding against North Carolina as well. Rees had his offense humming when he had the backs being used as more of a focal point in the pass game. For some reason, however, we've seen little more than a slip screen and check downs for the backs in recent games. While that has been puzzling, there is no better time to fix that against UNLV. We need to see a game plan that not only properly utilizes backs like Chris Tyree in the run game, but also uses the speedster in the pass game along with Logan Diggs (another talented pass game weapon). Do that and it opens up even more room for them to run, and makes Audric Estime even more effective between the tackles as teams have to worry about the backs more on the perimeter.

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