As it turned out, there was smoke but essentially no fire following Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chip Long's meeting with Nick Saban prior to the College Football Playoff Natioanl Championship Game in January.

Before Steve Sarkisian was welcomed back at Alabama, Saban found himself in need once again of an offensive coordinator with both Mike Locksley (OC) and Dan Enos (quarterbacks coach) off to Maryland and Miami, respectively. Long was an attractive candidate coming off back-to-back impressive seasons as play-caller with the Irish and did chat with Saban about his playbook, but the conversation didn't concern future employment, he says.

“It wasn’t really much of anything," Long said this week. "Coach Saban contacted me and wanted to visit about what we do offensively, he liked a lot of things we did, especially (when Alabama was) prepping for Clemson. And I liked a lot of things they did offensively. Just an opportunity to talk ball for a couple of hours and then I hit the road and went to see my family.

“It really wasn’t much more than that. He knew my commitment to Notre Dame and it was a good opportunity to sit there and talk some ball after the rough two weeks we had and move forward from there.”

Saban looked for any advantage he could get vs. the Tigers, who had destroyed Notre Dame's plan offensively a few days prior in the national semifinal, limiting Notre Dame to a season-low three points.

Long's offense made a number of strides before the disappointing finish, especially after a switch was made at quarterback from Brandon Wimbush to Ian Book in Week 4. Book eclipsed the 320-yard passing mark in four of nine starts and flexed precision from an accuracy standpoint the offense had been missing.

Book's play on third down opened Long's offense up a bit and his presence as a downfield threat led to success from the running game, highlighted by Dexter Williams. That balance is likely what intrigued Saban and led to him wanting to more about Long's scheme before the Clemson game.

Long says one of the major keys for the Irish during the 2019 season will be producing more explosive plays.

“We have to be explosive. We had two plays over 50 yards last year and we went to the college football playoffs. That’s very rare," Long said. "The year before we averaged that a series. We need to take explosiveness of ’17 with the efficiency of ’18, and how we were on third downs, the ability to move the ball, and the grit we had. (But) We need to be an explosive offense.

"I don’t think last year we really scared anybody…. and that caught up to us.”