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College Football: 3 offensive gurus came up short in Week 2

By Justin Dottavio

COLLEGE PARK, MD - OCTOBER 04: Head coach Urban Meyer of the Ohio State Buckeyes (L) shakes hands with quarterback J.T. Barrett #16 (R) after their 52-24 win over the Maryland Terrapins at Byrd Stadium on October 4, 2014 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD - OCTOBER 04: Head coach Urban Meyer of the Ohio State Buckeyes (L) shakes hands with quarterback J.T. Barrett #16 (R) after their 52-24 win over the Maryland Terrapins at Byrd Stadium on October 4, 2014 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images) /
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SOUTH BEND, IN – SEPTEMBER 02: Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish leaves the field after a game against the Temple Owls at Notre Dame Stadium on September 2, 2017 in South Bend, Indiana. The Irish won 49-16. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, IN – SEPTEMBER 02: Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish leaves the field after a game against the Temple Owls at Notre Dame Stadium on September 2, 2017 in South Bend, Indiana. The Irish won 49-16. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

1. Notre Dame: Brian Kelly

Brian Kelly and Chip Long have run the Notre Dame offense into the ground. Much like Urban Meyer, Kelly put together a coach of the year quality job in 2015 after having to play Brandon Wimbush, DeShone Kizer and Malik Zaire.

The Irish won 10 games, they also went through multiple running backs. Then 2016 happened — the Irish threw 50 times in a tropical storm and finished 4-8. Kizer left for the NFL Draft and took his 5,000 career passing yards with him.

The Georgia Bulldogs will always play great defense, especially under Kirby Smart. With the UGA offense being bad anyway, and Jacob Eason being injured and freshman Jake Fromm having so start, Notre Dame still couldn’t capitalize. The Irish hosted the Bulldogs and lost in front of a home crowd that’s already beyond turning on Kelly. Wimbush finished 19-of-39 passing with 211 yards and they only mustered 55 rushing yards as a team.

Next: 3 takeaways from Texas A&M's win over Nicholls

How can Kelly do such a great job in 2015 and struggle since then? Mike Sanford Jr. was the offensive coordinator in 2015 and 2016 but has moved on to Western Kentucky. Rumors were he was on his way out after the 2015 season. Once Brian VanGorder was fired as the defensive coordinator, Kelly turned the play-calling over to Sanford full-time and proceeded to throw 50 times into a tropical storm. It’s been poor offensive production since.

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