Notre Dame Football: 3 takeaways from regular-season finale at Stanford

2. A committee effort in the backfield worked for Notre Dame

Running the football has been an issue for Notre Dame all season long. Coming into Week 14, the Fighting Irish averaged 175 yards per game on the ground to sit just outside the top 50 in that category. That comes without any single player averaging even 70 yards per game, proving that a team can enough success running the ball to win games without having to lean heavily on a workhorse back to carry the load.

Tony Jones Jr. led the way with 50 yards on 14 carries. Braden Lenzy added four carries for 48 yards, and Jafar Armstrong chipped in 44 yards on his three touches. Even Ian Book got into the act, adding 29 yards on the ground to go with his passing stats.

All told, the Fighting Irish hit above their season average as the team finished with 190 total rushing yards. C’Bo Flemister scored the one touchdown that Notre Dame punched in on the ground, further expanding the contributions of a deep backfield.

In the end, the committee effort once again came up big for Notre Dame. It is an unorthodox way to go about generating a ground game, but it has worked for the Fighting Irish all season. There was no reason to deviate from that plan as they closed out the contest on Saturday in style.