Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 19, 2026 13 UNDER THE DOME NOTRE DAME MADE SCHEMATIC CHANGES AGAINST WISCONSIN? Head coach Marcus Freeman said yes, both after the game and dur- ing his Sept. 8 press conference. He declined to divulge further details. "I'm not going to get too much schematical things, but I think as you look at the first half and the second half with certain defensive fronts that we wanted to run certain offensive runs into," Freeman said. One such adjustment that college football analyst Landon Tengwall pointed out concerned the Notre Dame tight ends. The Irish were often motioning their tight ends — senior Cooper Flanagan and sopho- more James Flanigan — behind the guard before the snap and using them as "insert" blockers. Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock's logic made sense because the Irish wanted to use Flanagan and Flanigan's tal- ents as run blockers to their fullest extent. And the counter that they used off of it worked, because it led to Flanigan's 3-yard touchdown reception at the goal line. But in the run game, the insert blockers rarely reached their intended targets and just wound up clogging up the hole. In the second half, Notre Dame did away with the insert blockers and just ran behind its offensive line, with the tight ends setting the edge. The results speak for themselves. — Jack Soble Aneyas Williams had enough room to triumphantly hold the ball in the air as he crossed the goal line for his second touchdown of the evening in Green Bay, Wis. The way Irish head coach Marcus Freeman saw it, Williams created some of that space himself. Williams had significantly more room to operate in the final two quarters of the victory over Wisconsin Sept. 6, during which Notre Dame ran the ball 12 times for 66 yards (5.5 yards per carry). In the first half, the Irish ran it 16 times for a modest 29 yards (1.8). It was arguably the most welcome outcome of a second half Notre Dame dominated, and Freeman said it was largely due to the patience of its running backs. On the run in question, Williams waited for his blocks to develop and ran behind senior right guard Sullivan Absher, veering up the field and easily punching it in for a touchdown. "I thought the first half, as you watched it, we were a little bit too aggressive and just trying to hit the hole instead of letting the play develop," Freeman said. "I think being able to emphasize that at halftime, you saw actually a little bit more patience in the second half at what we were looking for to get out our running backs, and it obviously helped us in the second half." Williams saw similar results on his first touchdown as well, as he looked for a seam inside, couldn't find it and shifted to his left where he found paydirt. You also saw it on one of his final carries, a 14-yard gain in which he rode right tackle Guerby Lambert's hip and bounced it to the outside. "You press as long as you can, so it kind of sucks everybody down in, and then you cut," college football analyst Landon Tengwall said in his YouTube breakdown of Notre Dame's offensive line against Wisconsin. "Love that. The run game is going to be just fine for Notre Dame." — Jack Soble Junior running back Aneyas Williams had significantly more room to operate in the second half against Wisconsin on Sept. 6, helping the Irish produce 66 yards on 12 attempts in the final 30 minutes (5.5 yards per carry). PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER Notre Dame Run Game Moves Forward After Mixed Bag Week 1 The Fighting Irish made some key adjustments that were designed to take advan- tage of their tight ends — Cooper Flanagan (above, right) and James Flanigan — tal- ents as run blockers. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER