Notre Dame relied on a pair of NFL-bound running backs last year to nearly reach the College Football Playoff. The third-ranked Fighting Irish have a different-looking ground game for Saturday's game at North Carolina.
Notre Dame (4-0) ranks 98th in the Bowl Subdivision in rushing offense at 141.8 yards entering the matchup with the Tar Heels (2-1), with junior Aneyas Williams and sophomore Nolan James Jr. each starting in the backfield so far this year.
Coach Marcus Freeman views that ground attack as improving.
“As long as the guys on the field are producing, we'll roll them, keep them fresh, try to keep hits off of them,” he said. “But we're also not going to probably roll them every series just because we want to kind of get them in a rhythm.”
They’ve offered effective play, though it lacks the explosion that came with last year’s duo of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price. Love was the nation’s No. 5 rusher (114.3) and ran for 18 touchdowns before becoming the third overall pick in the NFL draft. Price ran for 674 yards and 11 scores before going with the last pick of the first round.
With those two leading the way, Notre Dame ranked 17th nationally (203.4) in rushing offense.
Williams started the first three games and leads the Irish in rushing with 224 yards, highlighted by running for 90 yards and two touchdowns in the opener against Wisconsin and then 80 yards with a score last week against Purdue. Jones broke loose for 121 yards and a score against Michigan State, then started the Purdue game.
“For the two guys we’ve got, the one thing they’ll do is they'll go north and south,” Freeman said.
North Carolina emerges from an open week trying to figure out how to connect more consistently downfield.
Transfer quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. is coming off a loss at Clemson in which he threw for just 135 yards while completing 13 of 30 passes (43.3%) as the Tar Heels squandered a two-touchdown lead. He completed 57.1% (16 of 28) against TCU in the team's other game against an FBS foe.
“In the end, it's team execution,” coach Bill Belichick said. “It doesn't all come back to one guy, even though everybody wants to focus on the quarterback. There are other things that we need to do better. ... That’s what we’re working on and we’ll keep working on it.”
Generating more downfield won't be easy. Notre Dame's defense is ranked 11th nationally in scoring (17.6) and 22nd in total defnese (313.5).
“Notre Dame's tough, they haven't given up many big plays so we're going to have to execute well to make those happen," Belichick said. "That's certainly part of the plan, I'm just saying it's not easy against them — at least it hasn't been, they've done a good job.”
Notre Dame and North Carolina have avoided many self-inflicted mistakes.
The Irish are the least-penalized team in FBS play through four games, being whistled for 10 penalties through four games (2.5 average). They also lead the country by averaging just 26.5 yards in penalties per game.
The Tar Heels are close behind. Their 31.7 yards per game is ranked fourth in FBS, while their 13 penalties through three games (4.3) is 11th.
Williams said that he took one for the team, actually the offensive line, with a celebration penalty in the Michigan State game. Williams said that his offensive line suggested a “Crank the Lawnmower” celebration after his touchdown against the Spartans, though it triggered a penalty.
“They owe me one,” Williams said of his offensive line.
When Williams ran to the Fighting Irish sidelines, he was confronted by Freeman, who looked upset about the penalty. Freeman later apologized to Williams and to his mother for the incident.
“He knows I’m a mama’s boy, so that’s the first person he thought about,” Williams said of Freeman’s apology of his mother. “My mom knows. She can handle it.”
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AP freelance writer Curt Rallo in South Bend, Indiana, contributed to this report.
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