Notre Dame Offensive Line Must Live Up To Its Hype Against Alabama
Notre Dame has one of the nation's best offensive lines, of that there is no doubt. The Fighting Irish blockers are one of three finalists for the Joe Moore Award, three of their linemen were named Associated Press All-Americans and all five starters earned All-ACC honors.
Even with the loss of center Jarrett Patterson, the Notre Dame offensive line is still talented, and if the Irish are going to upset Alabama the line must play at an elite level.
That means protecting quarterback Ian Book, and most importantly, establishing the ground attack. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly and left tackle Liam Eichenberg both know how important it is (see video).
There are three primary reasons why running the football is so important.
1. That's Who Notre Dame Is - To pull off an upset against a team like Alabama a team that is a three touchdown underdog needs to get creative and look for ways to generate big plays. It must also be good at what its best at, and the Notre Dame offense is at its best when it runs the football.
In the last four seasons, Notre Dame has topped 200 yards rushing 25 times and fallen short of that number 25 times. In the games where the Irish rushed for at least 200 yards the offense averaged 39.5 points per game. In the games where the Irish rushed for less than 200 yards the offense averaged 27.3 points per game.
Notre Dame has rushed for under 150 yards 14 times in that stretch, and in those games the offense averaged just 23.8 points per game.
2. Alabama Can Be Vulnerable - When opponents run the ball with any kind of success against Alabama it can set the offense up for even more success. The Crimson Tide are good against the run, but not as dominant as it has been in past seasons. Alabama played just one top 25 rush offense this season (Ole Miss), and it gave up 268 yards in that game.
In Alabama's two losses in 2019 it gave up an average of 173.5 rushing yards per game.
3. Run Game Success Protects The Notre Dame Defense - Running the ball, especially early, sets Notre Dame up to sustain drives, and it should give the pass game plenty of chances to make plays as well.
Just as important, running the ball effectively allows Notre Dame to get in more favorable third-down situations, and if that happens the Irish should be able to keep the chains moving.
The primary benefits of moving the chains is putting more points on the board, and then keeping Alabama's offense off the field for longer stretches. This helps protect the Notre Dame defense by limiting possessions, but it also gives defensive coordinator Clark Lea and the Irish defensive staff more time to make adjustments.
Running the ball is obviously extremely important for Notre Dame, but that can't happen without the Irish line playing like what it is, a very talented group of players that make up one of the nation's best lines.
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