Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/176703
Under the Dome Charting The Irish Sharing The Load A year ago, the explosive running back tandem of Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon helped Alabama average 227.5 rushing yards per game, and the Crimson Tide captured its third national title in four seasons. The attack was quite balanced behind the power of Lacy (1,322 yards and 17 touchdowns) and the speed of Yeldon (1,108 yards and 12 touchdowns). After the departure of running backs Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood, head coach Brian Kelly's squad has struggled to find a consistent running game while the coaching staff auditions five players for playing time. Kelly recently said that he thinks the days of one running back carrying the offense are gone. "Across the country, that singular back, that one guy, has not been able to fit all the things that you want to do offensively," he said. "I think the position has now required a guy that is multidimensional, and it's better to find that maybe in two or three different backs. Through three games, juniors Amir Carlisle and Cam McDaniel led the way with 30 and 29 carries, respectively. Fellow junior George Atkinson III trailed them with 18 carries, while the freshman duo of Greg Bryant and Tarean Folston combined for only eight. Just how balanced (or imbalanced) are rushing attacks among Notre Dame opponents through three weeks? Only two teams (Pittsburgh and Stanford) on the Irish schedule entered week four with fewer than three players with double-digit rushing attempts. Both the Panthers and the Cardinal had a bye week and entered week four having played two games, compared to the usual three. No. of players with School 10+ carries (most carries) Temple 3 (36) Michigan 3 (55) Purdue 3 (41) Michigan State 4 (44) Oklahoma 6 (45) Arizona State 3 (36) No. of players with School 10+ carries (most carries) USC* 3 (66) Air Force 4 (43) Navy 4 (47) Pittsburgh* 2 (23) BYU 4 (63) Stanford* 2 (40) * Teams without a quarterback with 10+ carries Beyond The Stats Juniors Amir Carlisle and Stephon Tuitt displayed in Notre Dame's 31-24 victory at Purdue how contributions aren't always necessarily reflected on the stat sheet. On paper, Carlisle had a terrible evening, totaling only 16 yards rushing on 11 carries and losing a fumble in his territory late that could have enabled Purdue to tie the game, if not go ahead. However, Kelly said Carlisle's blocking on blitz pick-up was "tremendous" throughout the game, which kept him on the field. On the 82-yard go-ahead touchdown pass from Tommy Rees to DaVaris Daniels, Carlisle eliminated safety Taylor Richards, who was blitzing from Rees' blind side. It might have reminded some of the 2005 BYU game when Irish 1,000-yard rusher Darius Walker carried seven times for only 17 yards — but referred to that as one of his favorite games. A main reason was he kept picking up BYU blitzes effectively that allowed quarterback Brady Quinn to throw a school-record