Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/869474
22 SEPT. 11, 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY LOU SOMOGYI F irst-year Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chip Long said he would not sleep well this year if the Fighting Irish couldn't run the football. He should be sleep- ing peacefully following the ground effort against Temple. Notre Dame romped for 422 rush- ing yards and 606 yards of total of- fense en route to a 49-16 rout of the Owls in the grand opening of the Campus Construction Project at Notre Dame Stadium. It was the sec- ond most rushing yards amassed by the Irish in the eight-year Brian Kelly era, eclipsed only by the 457 during a 62-27 drubbing of UMass in 2015. Three Fighting Irish players eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark, led by junior Josh Adams' 161 yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns. In his debut as a starter, junior quar- terback Brandon Wimbush carried 12 times for 106 yards — plus he was 17-of-30 passing for 184 yards with two touchdowns and an interception — and a late surge by junior running back Dexter Williams resulted in 124 yards on merely six attempts. "To have a good run game, you have to have big plays," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said. "They crowded the line of scrimmage. When you drop your safeties down and decide that you're going to play eight, nine guys on the line of scrim- mage, if you break through, those are the things that come with it. "Now if you play two safeties back and play second-level and third-level defense, you can probably get five yards, six yards, seven yards. But when you play that kind of defense, you're going to get some big runs. We were able to do that." The veteran Irish offensive line has been rated among the nation's elite, and it asserted dominance early while helping build a 28-3 cushion with 11:09 still left until halftime. Notre Dame was not seriously threat- ened thereafter. Especially gratifying to Kelly was that running behind the left side of the line, with preseason All-Ameri- cans Mike McGlinchey at tackle and Quenton Nelson at guard, was not the team's only option. "I love the fact that when we needed to run the ball, we could go behind [guard Alex] Bars and [tackles Tommy] Kraemer and [Robert] Hain- sey, and not have to just rely on Quen- ton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey," he said. "That's pretty good that you've got the confidence that you can go on either side of the ball." Defensively under new coordina- tor Mike Elko, the Irish bent several times while yielding 330 yards of to- tal offense, but the pivotal stat was allowing only 5 of 17 (29.4 percent) third-down conversions by Temple, and 0 of 2 on fourth down. FIRST QUARTER: NOTRE DAME 21, TEMPLE 3 Top Moment: With just 33 sec- onds elapsed, Notre Dame went ahead 7-0 when its opening series took only two plays, a 33-yard toss from Wimbush to junior Equanime- ous St. Brown on the first play and Adams romping for a 37-yard score. Top Performance: Adams amassed 112 yards on six carries in the first quarter alone, his ninth career 100- yard rushing output at Notre Dame. Stats: Notre Dame outgained Tem- ple 199 (152 rushing and 47 passing) to 99 (34 rushing and 65 passing). The 17 Irish plays averaged 11.7 yards. Temple won the time of possession 9:21-5:39, but that's because two of Notre Dame's scores — touchdown drives of 70 and 72 yards — required only two and three plays. Items: With 5:50 left, Wimbush capped a 59-yard drive with an eight- yard scramble into the end zone on third-and-goal. He accounted for 28 yards on four carries during the drive to make it 14-0. Junior running back Josh Adams carried the ball 19 times for 161 yards and two touchdowns against the Owls, marking the ninth 100-yard game of his career. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA Ground Rules Notre Dame romps for 422 rushing yards in dominant effort versus Temple