No running from weaknesses

Fighting Irish present two biggest issues for BYU: a physical front seven and a big running game.

Provo • Ed Lamb called it a “red letter game.” Kalani Sitake marveled at the legend of Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz. Cornerback Kaleb Hayes said matter of factly, “It’s Notre Dame.”

The common theme: BYU isn’t shying away from the significance of this week in Las Vegas. If anything, the Cougars are going out of their way to speak to the magnitude of a game they have been chasing since 2013.

But beneath whatever BYU is billing this game are serious on-field questions that will finally be answered on Saturday.

Simmering under a 4-1 start and a No. 16 ranking, the Cougars have struggled to stop the run and establish the run. It has been a problem that BYU has largely been able to kick down the road as it has played lesser opponents the last two weeks.

But that will end against Notre Dame. Whatever you want to say about the 2-2 Irish, the defense is the strength of their team and the offense is carried by a trio of running backs. So there isn’t any running from it this week, BYU will find answers to its most pressing issues.

Whether those answers are positive or negative is all that is left to see.

Right now, Notre Dame’s offense is largely carried by running backs Chris Tyree, Audric Estime and Logan Diggs. With backup quarterback Drew Pyne at the helm, Irish offensive coordinator Tommy Rees won’t take too many shots down field. Instead, the Irish butter their bread with short passes and a heavy diet of rotated backs.

Against North Carolina, Notre Dame ran the ball for 287 yards on 51 carries. It threw the ball just 34 times. That is the identity of this offense now. If BYU can stop the run, it has a chance. If not, it will be a long day.

As for the defense, Notre Dame’s front seven is about as big and physical as you would expect. BYU has struggled to run the ball against exactly that type of defense. So, with Chris Brooks and a banged up Miles Davis, BYU will either prove it is a team that struggles to run or a group that just had a slow start to the year.

Will BYU have its playmakers?

BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said one of the struggles this season has been not having Puka Nacua, Gunner Romney and Chase Roberts — his top three receivers — all available at the same time.

This week, there is hope that could change. Romney returned from a lacerated kidney last week against Utah State. Nacua and Roberts both missed last week’s game. Sitake said Roberts and Nacua were “probable or a possibility” for this week’s game. Nacua was in pads at the end of practice when the media were allowed to observe on Wednesday.

Beyond the core three, BYU is also not fully healthy at running back. Davis, the redshirt freshman who has jumpstarted the running game the last two weeks, left the game with an undisclosed injury against Utah State in the fourth quarter. Sitake called him a possibility to play this weekend as well.

“He is a little bit banged up, and I am hopeful that he will play Saturday,” Roderick said. “I think he will be able to go, but he got dinged up a little bit. That’s why he didn’t return.”

A rerun of Baylor?

Roderick mentioned that Notre Dame defensively reminds him of Baylor’s front seven. That is interesting on two levels.

One, as we already mentioned, is we will see if BYU can establish a running game. But two, and perhaps more importantly, is what adjustments come if BYU can’t run the ball.

Against Baylor, BYU managed just 2.5 yards per carry and Roderick put the ball in quarterback Jaren Hall’s hands late in the game to finish off a 26-20 win. It was the only way to move the ball.

Will Roderick go to riding Hall’s arm earlier in this game this time if he sees BYU can’t run the ball? It might mean that this Notre Dame game becomes the Jaren Hall game.

It certainly would be fitting for BYU to go down swinging in its biggest game of the season with its best player. If Hall has Nacua, Romney and Roberts in the mix this week, too, it might be the most complete look we see of what this passing offense can be.*