96 days until Notre Dame football: One stat that needs to change in 2023
BlueandGold.com will release a countdown article highlighting a significant Fighting Irish football statistic every day until the 2023 Notre Dame season opener against Navy in Dublin, Ireland, on Aug. 26. Today, there are 96 days until the Fighting Irish and Midshipmen kick off at Aviva Stadium.
The Notre Dame offense couldn’t be much more average offensively in 2022 if that’s what the Fighting Irish were actually aiming for. They weren’t, of course. And that had to have made it all the more frustrating internally.
Notre Dame averaged 396.2 yards per game last year. That ranked No. 60 in the FBS. With 131 teams in the FBS, a ranking of No. 65 or No. 66 is as average as it gets. The Irish were 6.5 yards ahead of South Florida and 7.0 yards ahead of Liberty for those respective spots.
Notre Dame hadn’t averaged less than 400 yards per game since 2010, the first year of head coach Brian Kelly‘s 12-year tenure. While it feels like the game has changed a lot since then in favor of potent, high-powered offenses, the same amount of teams (six) averaged at least 500 yards per game in 2010 as in 2022.
The Irish don’t need to hit that mark. Only one of last year’s six programs in the 500-plus club qualified for the College Football Playoff. That was the eventual national champion, Georgia, though. Here’s the statistic that matters: all four CFP participants (Georgia, Michigan, TCU and Ohio State) averaged at least 455 yards per game.
Roughly 450 yards per game is the sweet spot for CFP teams of late.
In the last three seasons, the lowest yards per game average of any CFP team was Cincinnati’s 413.9 in 2021. Notre Dame averaged 448.5 yards per game the last time it made the CFP in 2020. When the Irish went to the playoff for the first time in program history in 2018, the offense averaged 440.1 yards per game.
It’s common sense type of logic. More offense, more wins, more of a chance to be one of the last four teams standing. It’s why the Irish secured the service of quarterback Sam Hartman from the transfer portal. It’s why why the drastically improved wide receiver recruiting conducted by position coach Chansi Stuckey could be one of the single-most important off-field developments in the last year and a half.
The Notre Dame offense struggled mightily at times last year with a backup-turned-starter in Drew Pyne starting 10 games. In nine wins, the Irish averaged 426.3 yards per game. In four losses, that number nearly decreased by 100 all the way down to 328.3.
So yes, it is straightforward. But it’s also the truth. The Notre Dame offense has to do better than 396.2 yards per game over the course of 13 games this year.
That’s a number that certainly will not reward the team with a 14th game.
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