Notre Dame Football: 3 takeaways from dominant win over South Florida

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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – SEPTEMBER 13: Members of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish offensive line line up against the Purdue Boilermakers at Lucas Oil Stadium on September 13, 2014 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

3. Offensive line was a brick wall

I know it isn’t the sexiest thing to talk about, but the production and effort of this Notre Dame offensive line cannot be overstated. Ian Book did not get sacked once and had a clean pocket all day long.

You could have driven your truck through some of the holes opened up for this running game. The Irish finished with 45 carries for 280 yards (6.2 yards per carry) and six touchdowns. All of that production started with the offensive line.

Out of the 66 plays, Notre Dame had just three plays go for negative yardage. They were able to dominate in the trenches, leading to a dominant offensive performance.

The offensive line is going to be a key strength of Notre Dame going forward. For their Week 2 performance against Duke, Liam Eichenberg and Robert Hainsey were two of the highest graded offensive lineman in the nation according to PFF.

Winning in the trenches is a key aspect that may go understated at times. If the offensive line can play like this consistently, that takes a lot of pressure off Ian Book both literally and figuratively.

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