Notre Dame Head Coach Marcus Freeman Happy With Offensive Line Coming Out Party Against UNC

Through the first four games of the season, Notre Dame's offensive line generated a lot of scrutiny, in large part due to their performance in the run game. In September, the Irish failed to rush for more than 177 yards in a single game, despite playing teams like Rice, Purdue and Michigan State who recently gave up 228 yards on the ground to Wisconsin, a team Notre Dame beat 41-13 in the season opener. 

Last weekend, however, was a coming out party of sorts for the Fighting Irish offensive line. After failing to rush for over 200 yards since the beginning of the season, Notre Dame finished the afternoon with 241 rushing yards averaging 5.4 yards per carry. This was, by far, their best performance of the season and head coach Marcus Freeman also believe this to be true. 

"I think that was the most complete game from start to finish that those five guys have played," Freeman shared. "There's a couple things that stick out to me. One is the ability to play on their side of the line of scrimmage. When you're running the ball and at the point of contact, playing on the defensive side of the ball, now you've got a chance to have success. The other thing I loved is, our guards with Sullivan Absher or Anthonie Knapp, those guys were pulling and kicking guys out. 

“We did that over and over and over and over," Freeman continued. "Towards the end of the game, our guys were running into the fire and finding a way to physically move those guys out of the way. That's a choice. It's a choice, and it doesn't feel good, it doesn't. I've been there, I know it, I see it every day in practice. But they still made the choice to play with that violence that we demand. I was really, really pleased with the way they played, and protection, right? They protected CJ [Carr] and did a really good job in the pass pro, too.”

One of the players that set the tone in their 37-26 victory over North Carolina was Knapp, their most experienced offensive lineman. The 6-5, 305-pound Georgia native brings the disposition at guard that you want to see out of an interior offensive lineman. During Saturday's performance, he came off the field, gushing blood, and it was the tone-setting performance they needed. 

"It was bloody," Freeman said. "You know, we talk about bloody Tuesdays around here. It was a bloody Saturday. I saw him running towards me, and he was saying something. I said, ‘hey, go see the trainer.’ You know what I mean? Keep that blood to yourself, man. But he's a tough dude, man. I saw a picture of him. It's like blood everywhere but that's Anthonie Knapp for you, man.”

Saturday's performance against the Tar Heels was a massive step in the right direction for Joe Rudolph's unit. Are they a finished product? Not quite, but if this is the level of dominance they put on display for the remainder of the season, this is going to be an extremely hard offense to stop. 

------ 

Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content and our premium message board! Click on the link below for more.

BECOME A MEMBER 

Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!

Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes
Follow me on Twitter: @TTrow5
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook