Indiana football brings in stout run defense looking to limit Notre Dame rushing trio — headlined by Irish QB Riley Leonard: ‘That presents its issues’

There’s no question what the matchup to watch on Friday night will be — the Indiana football run defense vs the Notre Dame rushing attack. It’s a battle of two of the most dominant teams when it comes to stopping the run and feasting off the run. Both are the backbones of each team this season, but something’s gotta give. Which will it be?

Indiana football tops the nation holding opponents to just 70.8 yards per game. It has allowed just four opponents to rush for more than 100 yards, holding six opponents to less than 70 yards. IU also ranks 20th in the FBS with 86 tackles for loss this year.

On the flip side, it’s Notre Dame who ranks 10th in the nation in rushing yards, averaging 224.8 yards per game, 2nd in yards per carry at 6.3 and 5th in total rushing touchdowns at 40. The Irish have run for 200+ yards in eight different games this season, including 362 against Purdue and four other times above the 250-yard mark. They have also run for at least three touchdowns in eight games.

Part of what makes Notre Dame’s rushing attack so lethal is its ability to run with quarterback Riley Leonard. Leonard, a transfer from Duke, haas run for 721 yards on the season — second on the team — with 14 touchdowns. He’s running the ball an average of 10.3 times per game. That type of rushing ability has frozen numerous defensive fronts this season and is a huge reason for the success the Irish are seeing on the ground.

“When you play Notre Dame offensively, it starts with the run game, and the quarterback is a big part of the run game,” Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti said of the Irish. “Not only on the designed quarterback runs, but when he drops back and he’s in the pocket and escapes the pocket and his ability to create plays with his arm and his legs.”

Leonard has two 100+ yard rushing games, both times leading Notre Dame in rushing. He has also run for 50+ yards eight times this year. He has multiple touchdowns in four games. There are just three games this year when Leonard did not run the ball at least 10 times.

“It’s a very good rushing attack,” Iu defensive coordinator Bryant Haines said. “I think it’s tenth in the country overall, 224 yards a game, 6.3 a clip. You can’t stop the run if they’re going to run the quarterback. I mean, you’d have to over commit so aggressively to stopping the run that you would put other parts of the defense in peril. It’s not necessarily about stopping the run. It’s making the quarterback pay a toll every time he decides he doesn’t want to run it. If that’s 20 times, then that’s 20 hits for the good guys.”

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Stopping Leonard is definitely at the top of IU’s priority list come Friday. Making him ‘pay a toll’ is going to be a point of emphasis for this Indiana defense.

“They’re a very good rushing attack. I like our front seven. I think we’re aggressive at all levels,” Haines added. “We have different things we can do, whether it’s blitzing, or mixing the looks up. He (Leonard) can run some, and he probably will, and he’ll get a couple yards, but he’ll also get a couple hits from the Hoosiers.

“Then guys, at the end of the day, if you’re willing to run your quarterback down Main Street, that is unique. Some coaches don’t want to do that. You could lose them. You could get hit. So that presents its issues.”

Limiting Leonard’s ability with his feet is the key to slowing down Notre Dame’s offensive attack. There have been three games when Leonard did not throw a touchdown. He threw for less than 175 yards in seven games this season.

Notre Dame’s rushing attack doesn’t end with Leonard, however. IU will also have to deal with Jeremiyah Love, the leading rusher for the Irish. On the season, Love has totaled 949 yards and 15 touchdowns. He’s averaging 7.1 yards per carry and has a touchdown in every single game. He also has 134 carries with zero fumbles.

Love has four 100+ yard games this season, three of which coming in the last five outings. His last time out he had 99 yards as well. Add in Jadarian Price — who has 651 yards with a 7.3 yard per carry average — and the Irish have a legitimate three-man rushing attack that is the strength of their team.

IU’s defense has allowed just two players to rush for more than 100 yards. That includes Roman Hemby from Maryland, who had 117 including a 75-yarder, and Jonah Coleman of Washington, who finished with 104 yards and a long of 46 yards.

“You can tell they understand what’s expected of them. They make quick and fast decisions,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said of IU’s front seven. “They’re very disruptive, chaotic defense that is number one in the country in stopping the run. So, we understand it’ll be a great challenge for us and we’ve got to have a great week of prep as we get ready for Friday night.

“They do some unique things with their D-line, with their second level defense, in terms of pressure package, but also some different stunts that you don’t see every week. What we can’t do is is try to play fit football. You hear me say it all the time, and make sure ‘Hey, we’re scheming everything up the exact right way.’ Part of this is you got to be aggressive. You’ve got to establish a new line of scrimmage when you’re running the football, and that’s a mindset, a mentality, that we have to have, but they’ve done an excellent job of stop and run all season long.”

As it always does, it’ll come down to the line of scrimmage on Friday. If Indiana football continues to play the way it does and stops the rushing attack from the Irish, that could go an extremely long way in determining the outcome of its first round matchup.

And both teams know the running game will decide their fate.

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