Notre Dame Football: 3 overreactions to win over New Mexico in Week 3

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SOUTH BEND, INDIANA – SEPTEMBER 14: Mick Assaf #32 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish runs with the football in the fourth quarter against the New Mexico Lobos at Notre Dame Stadium on September 14, 2019 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) /

2. Run game is a concern

Where is the run game? Typically, Brian Kelly has a work-horse back who can put up 1,000 yards but there’s doubt that it’ll happen this year. Josh Adams and Dexter Williams aren’t walking through the doors any time soon.

Ian Book was the leader rusher for the Irish with 46 yards and a touchdown on nine carries and the next closest was Kyren Williams who had four rushes for 26 yards. Freshman quarterback Brendon Clark had four carries for 24 yards to finish third and Phil Jurkovec was fourth with 17 yards on three touches.

Overall, Notre Dame had 38 rushes for 157 yards and two touchdowns and the quarterbacks had 89 of that. It’s never a good sign when the gunslingers have a majority of your team’s rushing yards.

Notre Dame has an identity problem in the backfield. Who is the lead back for the Irish moving forward? Will it be Williams? What about Tony Jones Jr. who had 110 yards against Louisville to start the year but only six rushes for 17 yards on Saturday?

Jones Jr. may be the answer, but didn’t show it against New Mexico, but we’ll likely learn more about the Irish run game against Georgia — Kelly won’t show much against a team like the Lobos.

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