With the Camping World Bowl versus Iowa State (7-5) less than a week away, No. 14-ranked Notre Dame (10-2) completed its sixth practice on Saturday afternoon for the outing. Final exams week ended on Friday, so the last two days emphasized more physicality, and Sunday’s session is expected to be the peak with contact work before tapering off next week.

Leading rusher Tony Jones Jr. romped for 176 yards in the win versus USC, but 165 total in his final five games. (Andris Visockis)

On Monday the team will have a walk-through on campus before departing to Orlando, Fla., later that afternoon, a Notre Dame traveling party that will include about 400, according to head coach Brian Kelly. They will practice and celebrate Christmas together as a team Tuesday through Thursday prior to another walk-through on Friday. “Their mental focus has been really good, it hasn’t been sloppy,” said Kelly of balancing final exams the past week with some preparation.

The primary talking point for Notre Dame has been who would handle the play-calling duties in place of Chip Long, who coordinated the offense and called the plays the past three seasons before he and the current staff parted ways earlier this month. “We’re going to keep it as a national secret, letting you guys try to guess and talk about it,” replied Kelly to the natural inquiries about the direction of the offense. “Is that what you need for the newspapers, internet chats and stuff like that?” Perhaps the most-used word was “collaboration” among quarterbacks coach Tom Rees, running backs coach Lance Taylor and offensive line coach Jeff Quinn. “Those three guys, that collaboration through balance in the run and pass game,” Kelly said. “Lot more conversations, lot more meetings, lot more of everybody clearly seeing though the same lens as to what we want to accomplish, not only in the passing game but in the running game. “I’m leading it and then giving them a clear direction of where we want to go — and then let it go. I thought they’ve really done exactly what I was looking for over the last couple of days.” What Kelly is seeking is not necessarily for public knowledge at this point, but it won’t involve, as he notes, “reinventing the wheel” after averaging 37.1 points per game during the regular season. A stronger consistency with a conventional ground attack would be a start. While Notre Dame did finish November with a five-game winning streak, the ground game had to rely heavily on quarterback Ian Book’s ad-lib scrambling, or jet sweeps from wideout Braden Lenzy, for some creativity via the ground arsenal. In his last five games, top rusher, running back Tony Jones Jr., produced 165 yards on 53 carries, or 3.1 yards per attempt. In the game that Jones was sidelined with an injury, the 21-20 win versus Virginia Tech on Nov. 2, Jafar Armstrong — injured earlier in the year — carried 19 times for only 37 yards. “We ran the ball at times effectively, and at other times we weren’t effective,” Kelly said. “We want to be moving forward much more effective, so that requires complete collaboration and everybody on the same page, and that’s what I’m looking to accomplish. “… It’s not for the untrained eye. I think you’re not going to see a whole lot of difference. But for those that really study our offense, I think you’ll see some improvements that will help us from the start of the game to the end of the game. That’s what we’re looking for.”



BRADEN LENZY & KYLE HAMILTON