Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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8 OCT. 3, 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Sullivan Absher Can Be Better By Kyle Kelly It's unfair to put Notre Dame's run-game woes all on senior right guard Sullivan Absher, but it's clear he's been the Irish offensive line's weakest link. Therefore, he has to be the key to improving it. According to Pro Football Focus' film grades, Ab- sher's 55.8 run-blocking grade is the lowest among Notre Dame's five starting offensive linemen. It also ranks 138th among 169 Power Four offensive guards. The rushing totals have been disappointing, too, when the Irish run to his side. Against Michigan State, Notre Dame's rushers aver- aged just 1.7 yards per carry (6 rushes for 10 yards) when running up the middle on the right side, the lowest of any rushing direction in Week 3. Fifth-year center Ashton Craig also deserves some accountability for the lack of suc- cess, but there are clear parts of Absher's game that need to be cleaned up. The good news for the Irish is those issues are fixable, according to former Penn State offensive lineman and film analyst Landon Tengwall. "My biggest thing with Absher is I just need him to play under control and bend a little bit more," Tengwall said. "There's too much leaning, and it looks a little slow for me, and the feet are swinging. If he can plant his legs and bend — he's so used to just being able to body guys because he's so big. Not at this high level. That's where he's got to get better." Notre Dame needs more of that than what it was getting when running up the middle on Absher's side. And with a top-10 matchup against BYU loom- ing, it needs to have it soon. Mike Denbrock Needs To Find What Works By Tyler James Notre Dame's rushing attack has been defined by inconsistency and a lack of explosive plays through the first three weeks of the season. In retrospect, that shouldn't be terribly surprising given the shuffling on the offensive line and a running back room that just lost two first-round NFL Draft picks. But I still expected Notre Dame's ground game to look better out of the gate. The most promising de- velopment about the Irish rushing attack has been the obvious improvement shown in the second halves against Wisconsin and Michigan State. It's clear that when the Irish find their groove in the running game, they can be hard to stop. Even when it's clear that's what Notre Dame wants to do. After the first quarter of the season, it's up to offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock to define the identity of Notre Dame's rushing attack. He's not doing that alone. It requires honest evaluation from offensive line coach Joe Rudolph and running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider. And the success will rely on the ability of Notre Dame's players to execute the game plan given to them. The goal for Fighting Irish's rushing attack should be to become more tone-setting and less reactionary. The best running games know what they do best, and the Irish seem to still be figuring that out. Patience is warranted, but the path ahead will become more manageable when Notre Dame's game plan and execution start to align more. The Irish have enough talent on the offensive line and in the backfield to make it all work eventually. Point ✦ Counterpoint: WHO IS THE KEY TO IMPROVING NOTRE DAME'S RUSHING ATTACK? Francis Brewu didn't play for rivalry trophies during his time at Pittsburgh. The Panthers have only one rival that consistently remains on their schedule: West Virginia. And that rivalry, known as the Backyard Brawl, doesn't come with any hardware. Brewu, a junior defensive tackle who trans- ferred to Notre Dame this past offseason, had a lot of history to learn when he joined the Irish program. This season's schedule includes games against five rivals with trophies involved: Michi- gan State (Megaphone Trophy), Purdue (The Shil- lelagh), Stanford (Legends Trophy), Navy (The Rip Miller Trophy) and Boston College (Frank Leahy Memorial Bowl). But Brewu came to Notre Dame for much more than rivalry trophies. Blue & Gold Illustrated caught up with Brewu in September to discuss the memorable start to his first season with the Fighting Irish. BGI: Do you have a specific play from the first three games of the season that you're most proud of? Brewu: "I would say that sack against Wiscon- sin that first time, because on that drive I got to the quarterback a couple times. … To get that sack kind of felt like I cemented myself into this team and kind of proved myself, and I'm going to continue to prove myself and continue to show what I can do." BGI: What did you do to make that play hap- pen? Brewu: "I do break down every offensive line- man I go against before every game, and so I kind of knew that it was a pass, but I also knew because it was an obvious pass situation. So, I'm familiar with how the offensive lineman sets, and I was expecting a certain set from him. I took the outside on him and he didn't really set to me, so I pressed his body in and ripped off of him and tried a U-turn to get to the quarterback, and I was able to make it happen." BGI: How do you and fellow transfer defensive tackle Tionne Gray complement each other? Brewu: "I think we're a great one-two punch. He got his size, and I got what I'm good at. I think we both do our own things that are really good, but they complement each other." BGI: How has the heavy rotation on the defen- sive line affected your play? Brewu: "It's good to know that we have such a deep room where we can all get after it. Of course, it's a little different taking less snaps. But it's something that I'm trying to see as a positive, because I have more energy on each snap and I can take full advantage of each snap." BGI: Did you know about any of Notre Dame's rivalry traditions before you showed up? Brewu: "No, I had no idea. We have a lot of them, a lot of these rivalry games. At my old school, we had one rivalry, but we had no trophy games. So, it's very cool to come to a place with this real sort of culture and tradition, just having a real history and playing all these teams." — Tyler James Five Questions With …JUNIOR DEFENSIVE TACKLE FRANCIS BREWU Brewu cited his sack versus Wisconsin as his most memorable play he's made with the Irish so far this season. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER ABSHER DENBROCK