Notre Dame's Running Game Has a Problem — And It's Not Going Away on Its Own
Two games into the 2026 season, Notre Dame sits at 2-0 with lopsided wins over Wisconsin (41-13) and Rice (52-0). The defense is playing lights-out, CJ Carr looks every bit the Heisman contender he was billed as, and the offensive line has largely held up. But there's a crack in the foundation of Marcus Freeman's program that can't be papered over by blowout scorelines: the running game, long the signature of this offense, has been quietly broken through two weeks.
The Numbers Don't Lie
Notre Dame has failed to crack four yards per carry as a team in either game this season. Against Wisconsin, the Irish managed just 29 yards on 16 carries in the first half — a brutal 1.8 yards per carry — before things loosened up after halftime. Then against Rice, a team ND blanked 52-0, the ground game still only produced 118 yards on 32 carries, a 3.7 average. For a program that's had a running back top 900 yards in six straight seasons, that's a jarring start.
This isn't a one-week blip that gets explained away by a tough opponent. It's shown up in back-to-back games against very different levels of competition, which suggests the issue is structural rather than situational.
Why It's Happening
The obvious starting point is personnel. Notre Dame lost Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price to the NFL Draft's first round together — a first for the sport — and for the first time under Freeman, the Irish don't return a top-two rusher from the previous year. Love and Price weren't just productive; they were both bell-cow backs who topped 750 combined rushing-and-receiving yards and handled over 100 carries apiece. Replacing that kind of workload with a single "next man up" was never realistic, and it hasn't happened.
Instead, offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock and running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider have leaned into a committee: Aneyas Williams as the presumptive lead back, Nolan James Jr. and Kedren Young (back from the knee injury that cost him all of 2025) rotating behind him, with true freshmen Jonaz Walton and Javian Osborne also getting early-season run. On paper, that's five bodies with real talent. In practice, it's a group still searching for rhythm, identity, and a clear pecking order — and it's shown in the disjointed, low-explosiveness carries so far. No back has separated himself as the guy defenses have to fear, and that lack of a clear feature back means there's no rusher forcing extra attention that would open things up for everyone else.
It's also fair to point out this isn't purely a backfield issue. Some of Notre Dame's first-half struggles against Wisconsin came before the offense — line included — found its footing for the day, and there's a real chance some of this evens out as the season goes on and the linemen gel with a new set of backs behind them.
What Needs to Happen
1. Identify a true lead back and commit to him. Committees work when there's still a clear "1" who gets the bulk of early-down work. Right now Williams is nominally that guy, but the staff hasn't fed him enough volume to let him find a groove, and the timeshare with James and Young has kept any back from building the kind of rhythm Love and Price had. Seider needs to pick a primary ball-carrier and give him 15-plus touches a game before defenses even have to think about anyone else.
2. Get the young playmakers more involved, sooner. Both true freshmen backs — Walton and Osborne — reportedly bring more explosiveness than the rest of the room, but they've barely touched the ball (four and five carries, respectively, through two games). If the veteran committee approach isn't generating explosive plays, this is exactly the moment to find out what the freshmen can do in low-leverage snaps before Notre Dame needs it in October and November.
3. Simplify the blocking scheme early and let the backs settle in. A revamped run-blocking picture with new backs behind it is going to have communication issues no matter who's carrying the ball. Cleaner, more repeatable blocking concepts — even at the cost of some scheme variety — should help the O-line and a shuffling backfield sync up faster than trying to install a full menu of run concepts in September.
4. Trust the passing game to set up the run, not the other way around. With Carr playing well and the receiving corps improving, Denbrock has more freedom than in years past to use play-action and pre-snap motion to manufacture rushing lanes rather than relying purely on the running backs to win at the point of attack. If the ground game can't win on early downs schematically, manufacturing easier looks through the pass is the shortcut.
5. Be patient, but not indefinitely. History isn't kind to teams replacing this much production at running back — most programs that lose that kind of backfield talent see their rushing output decline the following year. Some regression was baked in. But there's a difference between a modest step back in production and averaging under four yards a carry against Rice. The Irish have a soft-enough schedule early to work through these issues; they won't have that luxury once Big Ten play tightens up.
The Bottom Line
Notre Dame isn't broken. The record says 2-0, the defense says elite, and the quarterback play says this offense still has a ceiling most programs would kill for. But the running game — the one constant of the Freeman era — needs real answers, not just patience, before this team runs into a defense that can make the Irish one-dimensional. The clock on "it's early" started ticking the moment ND couldn't get untracked against Rice.
Go Irish!
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