Irish offense grinds out best performance
By KATIE McVOY
Associate Sports Editor
The Irish ran away with the game. Literally.
During Saturday's win against West Virginia, Notre Dame posted eight season-high rushing marks, totaling 345 yards and returning to the heart of Irish football.
"We just know we have to go out there and establish a strong running game because that's Notre Dame football, being able to run the ball," senior tailback Tony Fisher said.
Fisher rushed for 119 yards, joining quarterback Carlyle Holiday in topping the 100-yard rushing mark — the first time two Irish players have topped 100 yards in the same game since 1999.
Against West Virginia, Notre Dame ran the ball on 92 percent of their offensive plays. In their first three games this season, the Irish had a combined total of 269 rushing rushing. Saturday, the Irish had 345 rushing yards.
After a stagnant start to the season, the Irish rushing game finally took off.
"Our offensive team is coming together every week," Fisher said. "... We've been able to run the ball the last couple of weeks and we're going to try to continue that from here on out."
Wet conditions put a damper on Notre Dame's passing game, forcing the run. The intensive rushing game culminated in a 15-play, 55-yard scoring drive in the second quarter that was kept entirely on the ground.
"To be quite honest, if our offense doesn't control the ball the way they controlled it today, if our offense doesn't have those long, time-consuming drives I'm not sure we can win the football game," Irish head coach Bob Davie said. "... But the offense did do that."
During the drive, tailback Julius Jones rushed nine times for 32 yards, Fisher took the handoff three times for seven yards, and Holiday kept three times for 16 yards, eating up seven minutes, 13 seconds.
"[The long drive] takes a lot out of us, it fatigues us a bit, but we feel good when it happens," Holiday said. "We're controlling the clock the whole game and that's a big positive."
The first-half running game was unstoppable. The Irish kept possession of the ball for nearly 19 minutes, and made 46 running plays.
"That was telling me we were possessing the ball," offensive coordinator Kevin Rogers said. "One of those drives was a 15-play deal. We were kind of two, three yards and then all of the sudden we get a 15."
The Irish can find reasons for their success in more than just their running backs. The offensive line and solid play by Holiday coupled with the good work of the Irish running backs solidified the Irish attack.
"It was the offensive line," Jones said. "The offensive line had a great day and I give them all the credit for our performance."
With the help of the offensive line, the Irish averaged a season high five yards per rush, four rushing touchdowns and 23 first downs.
"[The offensive line] was coming off the ball fast, they were hungry today," Holiday said. "They love running the ball and they came out [Saturday] and proved they could run the ball."
Holiday was the leading rusher for the Irish, finishing the game with 130 rushing yards, the most rushing yards an Irish quarterback has had since Tony Rice in 1989. Holiday also has the season-high for rushing yards for any Irish player this season.
"He's a sharp guy and he is going to be able to pick up things and as he progresses through his career he is going to get better and better," Rogers said.
With both Fisher and Holiday rushing for more than 100 yards, and the offensive line opening holes, the option worked.
"That's the way our offense is running right now," Fisher said. "We're the option. You know, the quarterback is keeping the ball. If Carlyle hands it, it's a carry for us, if not it's a carry for him."
The Irish are finally running the kind of game Notre Dame is expected to run.
"We knew they were going to run it, everyone in the stadium knew they were going to run it, the staff knew they were going to run it, our defense knew they were going to run it," Mountaineers head coach Rich Rodriguez said.
All Sports Stories for Monday, October 15, 2001
