Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Under the Dome Running On Fumes For the first time since the end of the 2008 season, Notre Dame strung together three consecutive games this September where the offense failed to reach 100 rushing yards. As head coach Brian Kelly continues his search for steady options at running back — there are five on the current roster — the rushing totals consistently dwindled in the first four games. Michigan held the Irish to 96 yards. Purdue kept them at 91 yards. And Michigan State's aggressive front seven allowed only 82 rushing yards. The last opponents to hold the Irish under the century mark in three consecutive games were Syracuse, No. 5 USC and Hawaii in the final three contests of the 2008 season. The last of those games was in the Hawaii Bowl, and Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen threw for more than 400 yards in a blowout victory. Kelly's team has consistently gotten stronger in the ground attack. Since he arrived in 2010, the Junior running back George Atkinson III is listed as the starter, but he had 21 fewer carries than classmate Cam McDaniel after the first four games. photo by Bill Panzica team has come up short of 100 yards an average of three times per season, a total of nine. "We certainly have to run the Notre Dame Football tickets 25 years in business Best selection & Prices 1-800-925-2500 www.NotreDametickets.com ball better," Kelly said several days before the Sept. 28 clash with Oklahoma. "We know that. I think everybody here in this room and America knows that." Through four games the team's leading rusher was Cam McDaniel, who had 45 carries for 169 yards. Junior George Atkinson III was expected to be the No. 1 option this fall, and while he has the team's best average with 5.0 yards per carry, he has only 24 carries, a little more than half of McDaniel's numbers.