Notre Dame Football: 5 overreactions from ugly victory over Ball State

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4. The run game lacks explosiveness

While both Notre Dame running backs boasted average numbers against Ball State, a closer look at their numbers shows how poorly the offensive line played.

Jafar Armstrong ran the ball 13 times for 66 yards and a score, while Tony Jones Jr.had 61 yards and 2 touchdowns on 13 carries. Not bad right? When you take out the long runs of 42 and 31 yards by each back, that comes out to a 2.2 yard per carry average for the rest of the rushing attempts.

Neither back played well and it played a significant reason for the Fighting Irish going to Wimbush in less than ideal situations.

Should Armstrong be moved back to wide receiver and his rushing attempts given to another back? Smart money would say yes, as Jones Jr. would be capable of handling a 20-25 carry workload.

The Notre Dame offense as a whole has gotten off to a slow start, but I expect the running game to improve against a Vanderbilt defense that is giving up just 75 yards per game this season.