Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly Describes Alabama Football's "Electric" Offense

The coach of the Fighting Irish discussed the problems that the Crimson Tide could present his team's defense on Friday in the Rose Bowl

On Monday morning, No. 4 Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly spoke with the media regarding his team's upcoming College Football Playoff Semifinal matchup against No. 1 Alabama at the Rose Bowl Game in Dallas.

To no one's surprise, the primary focus was how the Fighting Irish will prepare to handle the Crimson Tide's balanced offensive attack.

Kelly has met Alabama coach Nick Saban and his Crimson Tide before back in the 2013 BCS National Championship, where Alabama bowled over the Fighting Irish 42-14. While Alabama was much more of a defensive stronghold back in those days, Saban has changed with the times and has converted his team into an offensive juggernaut.

According to Kelly, the change from a defensive to an offensive focus goes to show how Saban has evolved as a coach.

"Well, I think it's probably just that," Kelly said. "You know, an explosive offense that has all of the trappings of today's college offense, NFL offenses. I think we're seeing a lot more of NFL resembling college today. But you're seeing all of those things. This is not pro I, let's run it up inside and play great defense. They're still playing fundamentally sound defense, but with the offenses as they are today, you know, it's very difficult not to give up some yards.

"So you're seeing fundamentally sound defense. You're still seeing the same principles. You're seeing at times elite play in certain position groups at Alabama. And then an offense now that can rival the very best college offenses in the country."

This season, Alabama has put together one of the most potent offenses in program history. The Crimson Tide score a touchdown an average of every 10.8 snaps, and three of its players in quarterback Mac Jones, wide receiver DeVonta Smith and running back Najee Harris all finished in the top five in the Heisman Trophy race.

To Kelly, it's Alabama's all-around balance on offense that makes them very difficult for his defense to prepare for.

"It's the balance of Najee and his ability to run and catch the football coming out of the backfield," Kelly said. "And then Smith and Metchie. Smith is just that good of a player that you know playing one-on-one against him is very difficult. So, when you're doubling him, you're losing one in the box and now you're putting Harris in a very favorable situation with a very good offensive line. So not a lot of good answers there."

No teams have been able to stop Alabama's offense. A couple have been able to keep up with strong offensive outings of their own, but none have been able to slow the Crimson Tide down.

In the 2020 season, Alabama has had six games where it scored 52 or more points — including its last three games.

Kelly believes that the answer to beating Alabama is not stopping its offense. Rather, it's focusing on its own offense in order to try and stay in the game.

"Certainly we're cognizant of the fact that this is an electric offense and scores bushels and bushels of points," Kelly said. "And we want to be able to play complementary football. That is, keep Alabama's offense off the field while we're certainly scoring as well. So I think we're not running the Princeton four-corner offense, but we are trying to run our offense, which has been one that has traditionally been a ball-control offense."

"So that still has to be in our mind in terms of we can't come into this game and change who we are, but the nice part about it is that's kind of been our DNA this year. So we'll need to continue to do that. We can't be three and out. We want to hold on to the football, because we want to play complementary football and keep Alabama's offense off the field as best we can."