When Michigan State executed that fake field goal in 2010, I believe Brian Kelly changed, and his comments over the years bear that out. He came into town as a reputed gunslinger, unafraid of doing anything on offense. But that night in East Lansing, at least in my belief, changed him. It started with special teams, where fear over being burned next by a fake punt led to overly cautious schemes that emphasized stopping any potential fakes at the expense of returning the punt.
In 2012, anytime ND got any sort of lead, the offense went into a complete shell. And since then, we've seen comparatively few deep passes or passes to a receiver running down the middle. Most of the throws are short passes to stationary receivers near the sidelines.
I realize it's difficult to be successful on offense when you're one-dimensional and can't run the ball. But certainly there must be a way, with all these highly-recruited and four-star linemen, to find a way. In any event, I believe the offense just needs to open up, big time. I don't think Ian Book is all that bad; in fact, I think he's much better at throwing deeper passes. Let's quit worrying about making mistakes on offense. In the words of 2003 World Series of Poker runner-up Sam Farha, "In order to live you have to be willing to die." Yep.
Feel free to correct me.