BRONX, NY – Army’s blueprint for winning the first nine games of this season was pretty simple: Run the football, stop the opponent from running the football and squeeze the life out of the opponent and the game clock.

Notre Dame showed the Black Knights on Saturday night at Yankee Stadium in New York City that they could do better without having to dominate time of possession. The CFP No. 6 Irish rolled to a 49-14 win over No. 19 Army thanks to an explosive running game and a strong defense.

Notre Dame (10-1) outrebounded Army (9-1) by 66 yards on half carries. Notre Dame averaged 9.4 yards per carry with 278 yards on 29 rushes. Army needed 58 carries to reach 207 yards, for an average of 3.6 per rush.

A 39:49-20:11 advantage in possession for Army made no difference at all as Notre Dame jumped out to a 14-0 lead, scoring touchdowns on four of its first five possessions. Notre Dame didn’t have to deviate from where it has been for most of the season to pile up the points against the nation’s No. 2 scoring defense (10.3 points allowed per game) and the No. 3 rushing defense (82.6 yards allowed per game). the weekend.

“We have to be able to run the ball, so we had to find ways to run the ball instead of really good rushing defense,” the Notre Dame head coach said. Marcus Vrijman. “But also take what they gave us in the passing game. We’ve done a good job.

‘It’s not like we have a secret. We were able to run the ball efficiently against a really good run defense. We didn’t beat Notre Dame. We were efficient in the passing game and didn’t turn the ball over.”

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Notre Dame used its passing game to build a 14-0 lead after two possessions. Quarterback Riley Leonard connected with wide receiver Jordan Faison for a 28-yard touchdown to complete a five-play, 68-yard drive on Notre Dame’s first possession. Then a blocked kick brought the Irish attack close to the goal line to start the second series. Sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love caught a short pass from Leonard and stymied an Army defender on his way to the end zone for a six-yard score.

Leonard, who Army held in check as a runner with just 30 yards on eight carries, only had to play a supplementary role the rest of the game. He finished 10 of 13 passing for 148 yards and two touchdowns. Faison’s opening touchdown proved to be his longest completion of the game.

Army quarterback Bryson Daily finally got Army’s offense going on his third possession, but with the help of Notre Dame defensive penalties. The Black Knights took advantage of three penalties on a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped by a four-yard run from Daily.

“What hurts you is the only touchdown drive in the first half, where you get three penalties. No one is happy about that,” Freeman said. “That’s a reminder: don’t beat Notre Dame. That ride resulted in three penalties that led to seven points, which we must definitely eliminate.”

The only time Notre Dame seemingly felt playing pressure was later in the second quarter. Army stuff Notre Dame’s charge at the goal line for a turnover on downs. But Notre Dame’s defense responded by forcing Army into its third three-and-out of the game.

“We haven’t really changed anything,” said safety Adon Shuler, who led the Irish with a career-high eight tackles. “We knew we weren’t really committed to that (previous) stage. We were a bit shocked. So we just had to calm the nerves and get back to playing football.”

Instead of broadcasting it, Notre Dame’s offense turned to the running game to take over from there. The love reignited the Irish with a 21-yard carry to start the drive. Love needed just two more carries, the second of 14 yards, to get back to the end zone.

Love tied the score with the touchdown Wayne Bullock‘s school record for consecutive games with a rushing touchdown. Bullock’s 11-game stretch spanned the 1973-74 seasons. Love became the first in program history to start a season with rushing touchdowns in eleven consecutive games.

Love and his fellow Irish running backs took over the game from then on. Junior Jadarian Price scored on a two-yard run with 26 seconds left in the first half. Love sprinted for a 68-yard score on the first play of a scrimmage in the second half.

Price added a 10-yard touchdown run later in the third quarter. Then freshman Anejas Williams recorded the longest touchdown of his young career with a 58-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Love, who scored three times in a game for the first time in his college career, called his long touchdown run his personal highlight of the day. While left guard Billy Schrauth and left tackle Anthonie Knapp created a lane for Love to pass through, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound speedster couldn’t make his way to the end zone.

“Man, that part was beautiful,” Love said. “The O-line performed perfectly. The receivers did their job too, and that’s team glory. Everybody’s doing their job and executing it the right way, man, plays like that happen. And we all feed off each other.”

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Love fell seven yards short of the career-high he set the week before against Virginia. But Love’s 130 yards on the ground against Army amounted to just seven carries. The love seems to be peaking at the right time of the season for Notre Dame.

“He’s a confident football player,” Freeman said. “What I like about Jeremiyah Love is that he protects the football and doesn’t cause turnovers. It’s almost like he’s anticipating what the defense is going to do. If he breaks the second level, I haven’t seen many people who can catch him. He practices well, he takes care of his body and produces on game days.”

Williams finished second in rushing yardage Saturday with 62 yards on three carries. Price gained 53 yards on 10 carries. The five rushing touchdowns for Notre Dame’s running backs were the latest testament to Notre Dame’s offensive line.

Since Schrauth returned to the starting lineup for the Navy game, the offensive line has been able to use the same starting five for four consecutive games. This was perhaps the group’s best performance to date.

“I’m so proud of where that group came from,” Freeman said. “You look from the beginning of fall camp and who we had from the beginning to where we are now, the different starting lineups and the production and the elevation and improvement that the offensive line group has done.

“The running backs get all the credit. The ball carriers get the credit for the yards, but those things don’t happen without a great offensive line working together. They really do a good job. Coach (Joe) Rudolf does well to let those boys play physically, but also to play together.

Notre Dame’s defense needed a collective effort to contain Daily and Army’s offense. Because Army kept Daily in the game until the end, he was able to rush his way to 139 yards on 39 carries with a pair of touchdowns. But Notre Dame became the first team to hold him to less than four yards per carry all season. Only two other teams – North Texas (4.3) and Lehigh (4.6) – limited to fewer than five yards per carry on a daily basis.

“We knew we had to stop him,” Freeman said. “That was the main priority. He is the person committing this offense. He’s a tough, downhill, gritty football player. But we had to match that kind of mentality.

“We wanted to attack their offensive line, we wanted to attack it and get more people there where they were trying to run than they could block. That was something we saw in the game planning that we wanted to do and try to attack. The defense did a very good job.”

After beating Army at home, Notre Dame has one more chance to impress the College Football Playoff committee next Saturday at USC (6-5). A convincing win could further boost Notre Dame’s playoff berth.

“This is a hungry team,” Freeman said. “There is much more. We have more. We didn’t play perfectly and strive for perfection.

“Do we ever play perfectly? No. But that’s what we’re going to strive for. That is what we strive for as an entire football program.”

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