Notre Dame OL aims to fix vexing short-yardage issues

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A strange subscript to C.J. Prosise’s strong showing at Virginia was how badly Notre Dame struggled in short-yardage situations.

While Notre Dame averaged 7.4 yards per carry, paced by Prosise’s 155 yards on 17 rushing attempts, the Irish didn’t convert on any of their 10 third-down opportunities in Charlottesville. Four of those chances came with fewer than three yards to gain for a first down, while a false start on right tackle Mike McGlinchey backed a third-and-four into a third-and-nine.

Notre Dame did convert a fourth-and-two when DeShone Kizer rushed for four yards to tee up what wound up being the game-winning drive. But fixing those short-yardage woes has been a point of emphasis for the Irish offensive line and ball-carriers this week.

“As an offensive line we talk about where to find the obvious run and the obvious pass, and plain and simple we haven't been good enough in that (short-yardage) situation,” center and two-time captain Nick Martin said. “Good thing is every week's new, every week's different. You can't dwell in the past, you can only learn from it and move on from there.”

[MORE NOTRE DAME: DeShone Kizer recalls late, quick recruiting process to get to Notre Dame]

Facing a Georgia Tech team that dominates possession, the same kind of third-and-short failures could doom the Irish against the Yellow Jackets. One failure on third-and-one could mean Notre Dame's offense doesn't get the ball back for 10 or 15 minutes as Paul Johnson's ruthless triple option chugs its way down the field.

While Georgia Tech’s defense struggled last year defending the run (5.07 yards per carry, 105th nationally), creating enough room for Notre Dame’s ball-carriers to pick up necessary yards in situations where running the ball is expected is a must for the Irish this weekend.

“Just knowing we have to get them those extra yards has to do with the offensive line first,” left tackle Ronnie Stanley said. “We’re really working on our fundamentals and what went wrong previously.”

The solution isn’t all on the offensive line, though. Malik Zaire made some poor decisions in the read-option game before his injury Saturday, coach Brian Kelly said, and was inaccurate on some passing down throws as well.

Prosise shouldered some of the blame, too. But no matter who's fault it is, it's a problem that has to be corrected by Saturday afternoon.

“We had a couple of missed assignments on third down and just things we made mistakes on, we need to fix that,” Prosise said. “We can’t be as bad on third downs as we were last week.”

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