Kyren Williams: 'We don't want anybody to believe in us besides us'
On paper, No. 4 Notre Dame doesn't have the athletes that No. 1 Alabama will roll out in Friday's Rose Bowl. The Irish offense doesn't have three Heisman candidates and the Irish don't have the flash of the Crimson Tide offense.
What Notre Dame does have is a bunch of guys who will beat you up for four quarters in the run game and quite frankly, it's a brand of football Alabama hasn't seen this year as the SEC has moved away from power football in recent years.
Notre Dame running back Kyren Williams was held in check by Clemson in the ACC Championship Game and the Irish offense knows they have to get him going on Friday night.
"It's been our bread and butter all season that we have to establish the run," stated Williams. "We know as an offensive line as running backs and as quarterbacks and wide receivers that we have to be able to go in there and run the ball. No matter what it is, by any means, we have to run the ball, establish our physicality early in the game and allow them to react to what we do.
"We can't be behind the chains. We know that as an offense, running the ball is our biggest focus this week for sure - being able to establish the run."
The Irish offensive line has battled injuries over the last month, but Williams never lost confidence in them and believe they'll be ready to go in AT&T Stadium this weekend.
"I never lost confidence, no matter what game it is," Williams said. "Clemson or Syracuse, it doesn't matter. I always trust my O linemen. I know they're going to give me their everything on every down. I'll do the same for them. It's the mutual bond between us that they're going to have to kill us to stop us.
"So to feel like that with the offensive line is huge. I know they feel the same way and come Friday that we're just going to leave it all out there on the field."
Notre Dame's offense will need to score points as Alabama enters the game averaging 49.7 points per game, but the St. Louis native doesn't feel any added pressure to score.
"I don't think it's much pressure," said Williams. "We just play the game and stay true to who we are as an offense that we'll be able to complement our defense and give them more breathing room to make plays.
"So I don't think it's much of a pressure thing more than it is being on our technique and being true to who we are and playing sound football."
Williams knows the Irish are the underdog and he's embraced it. In fact, the underdog mentality has allowed him to rush for 1,061 yards 12 touchdowns this fall as no one expected a big 2020 from him.
"I told myself after I got redshirted that I wouldn't ever be in that position again and I had to work out of that position," explained Williams. "So I was able to change my body, get my mind right to come back here and just all I did was work. All I knew was work.
"I just knew with that work I put in that it would pay off sometime. I came out this season just full force, ready to go. It was kind of skeptical this year coming in, not knowing who our starter was going to be and who was going to be the running back. I feel like just coming in and proving to my teammates that I'm going to work to get better and they saw that and I really feel like they looked at me differently after that."
And yes, Williams is more than fine with having people count them out against Alabama.
"Being the underdogs, it's motivating," said Williams. "Not everybody in the world believes in us and it's okay because we don't want anybody to believe in us besides us.
"As long as we've got us as a team and the coaching staff - everybody else in the building believes in us, we know what we can do. We'll go out there on Friday and do what we do best and play to the Notre Dame football standard. Being the underdog is nothing new to us. We're just going to keep proving to the world who we are."