Scouting Notre Dame: Offense

Picking up on this week's preview of the USF-Notre Dame matchup, here's your rundown of Notre Dame's offense.

Quarterback

Last week, Brian Kelly finally pulled the trigger and released a statement saying he will be starting Senior Dayne Crist against the Bulls. Crist, who led the Irish to a 4-5 record before going down with a season-ending knee injury, will be making his first start since losing to Tulsa in October of last season, so needless to say, it may take Crist a few series to shake off the rust. In 2010, Crist completed almost 60% of his passes, while throwing 15 touchdowns and 7 interceptions in a passing-dominated offense. Crist beat out Tommy Rees for the QB job, although Rees was impressive last season, completing 61% of his passes for 12 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. Don't be surprised to see both quarterbacks make an appearance on Saturday, especially if Crist seems to be struggling to adapt back to the game atmosphere.

Wide Receivers

Surrounded by offseason controversy, the story of the summer was star Irish WR Michael Floyd, who received virtually no reprimand for his drunk driving charges. Contrary to what many believed to happen, Floyd will not be sitting out the game against the Bulls. Not a half. Not a quarter. Floyd had by far the most receiving yards and touchdowns on the team last year, hauling in over 1000 yards and 12 TDs. The next most receiving touchdowns on the team was 3, held by other WR starter Theo Riddick. Opposite Floyd will be Sophomore T.J. Jones, who caught 23 passes for a little over 300 yards and three touchdowns. The backups will be John Goodman, Robby Toma, and DaVaris Daniels, who all combined for 29 catches, 333 yards and no touchdowns (Daniels is a Freshman, so those numbers are all Goodman and Toma).

Tight Ends

A relatively underused position in an offense like Brian Kelly's, the Tight End position looks pretty much exactly as it did at the end of last year. Starter at TE will be Tyler Eifert, who took over for Kyle Rudolph after his season-ending injury, and spend most of his playing time making third-down plays and mainly short-yardage, over-the-middle plays. Eifert hauled in 27 catches last year, 16 of which ended in first down of touchdowns (he scored three TDs), on his way to being named Offensive Newcomer of the Year. Behind Eifert will be another veteran, fifth-year Senior Mike Ragone, who hasn't seen much playing time during his tenure with Notre Dame, grabbing three passes last year. Don't expect to see a lot of Ragone in the passing game, but the 250-pounder may be seeing the field for some blocking plays.

Running Backs

Leading rusher Cierre Wood returns for his Junior year after averaging 5.1 yards per carry and three touchdowns on 119 attempts. Don't expect to see a whole lot of running in Notre Dame's repertoire, seeing as how Wood, the team's leading rusher, led the running backs in touchdowns after taking over for an injured Armando Allen, who, as a starter, averaged 64.2 yards per game. Nine of Green's offensive plays went for 20 yards or more. The bulky Senior Jonas Gray will be backing up Wood. Gray saw action in seven games, running for 100 yards on 20 carries, and 2/2 on first down conversions on third down.