Notre Dame football: Rose Bowl offensive grades vs. Alabama

Notre Dame football Rose Bowl grades: Running Backs

With the gameplan being based around ball control, the running backs were always going to be incredibly important to Notre Dame. For a while, though, it seemed like Kyren Williams was the only way that Notre Dame would be able to successfully move the ball, and it became predictable quickly.

Still, Williams made several tough runs, going through Alabama defenders and getting more yardage than he had any right to find.

Beyond Williams, Chris Tyree took several carries but never got going in space in any sort of way. C’Bo Flemister, meanwhile, was a ghost who only had one carry for no yardage.

Incorporating the running backs into the passing game was important to Tommy Rees coming into the game, as the ESPN broadcast mentioned it no less than twice that they wanted to throw to Williams at least ten times over the course of the game. They got close to that mark, with Williams finishing with eight catches, but it was ineffective.

Williams had only 31 yards receiving, or 3.9 yards a catch.

As soon as he had the ball, Alabama had him. Tyree did have four catches too, including one long screen pass that got a first-half drive moving nicely. In total, he had 37 yards receiving and 9.2 yards per catch.

On the ground, Kyren Williams had 16 carries for 64 yards and a touchdown. Tyree, meanwhile, had five carries for just 16 yards. On a night where the offense struggled to put up points, the freshman running backs played well.

Grade: B