Jack be nimble: Coan runs, throws Notre Dame past Tar Heels

The endorsement came from more than just a team captain.

It emanated from Kyren Williams, he of the 199-yard rushing effort and highlight-reel play certain to extend far beyond this season – a campaign that still has kept alive outside College Football Playoff hopes and bona fide New Year's Six bowl prospects, burnished a bit more with Saturday's 44-34 win against North Carolina.

Yes, Jack Coan can run. Even if Williams initially was a bit incredulous when asked about Coan's season-best run, a quick-decision burst around the right side and into the right corner of the end zone for the score that lifted the Irish back on top, 24-20.

“He had a 21-yard run?,” Williams initially asked. “Oh, I did see that. Because then he lifted me up (to celebrate the score), and I was like, 'Jack, why you lift me up? I'm supposed to lift you up.'

“I'm just super-excited for Jack. Not everybody thinks Jack can run, but obviously he showed that he can run tonight.”

Then:

“It's something we always knew, but not everybody in the world I guess knew that he could run. But we always got faith in Jack.”

Coan has steadfastly rewarded his teammates' faith this season.

Even as he has transitioned into an all-new offense, patiently been pilloried behind an offensive line that finally has started to hit its stride in both continuity and performance, Coan has flourished in an uptempo system that he best operates at the same speed with which Williams runs.

“I think the coaching staff's done a great job of putting us in the best situations to succeed,” said Coan, who's thrown for 1,610 yards, 12 touchdowns and just four picks as he's helped Notre Dame to a 7-1 start. “And just something that over time, I think that they've seen we do better with, maybe. They've put that plan on the field for us and just our job to go execute it. Like I said, the coaches put us in great situations.”

Since it was forced to expedite tempo Oct. 9 in a come-from-behind win at Virginia Tech, Notre Dame has tallied 86 points in its last nine quarters.

Moreover, the Irish kneeled to end the game rather than tack on a late score against Southern California Oct. 23 in a 31-16 win and yet also has showed it can operate at both a frenetic pace and control possession.

In the win against North Carolina, Notre Dame's offense generated two separate 13-play scoring drives as well as an 11-snap march.

It also had a one-play drive on Kyren Williams' scintillating, 91-yard sideline scamper than lapsed 17 seconds off the clock and another three-play, 75-yard and 58-second touchdown possession.

“We were dumb,” Brian Kelly said in a bit of self-deprecation about Notre Dame's coaching staff's hesitancy to put Coan in a sped-up system. “Look, we were trying to figure out what he could do and we were using a lot of the skills that he had, but we have found obviously a niche where he feels really comfortable. The epiphany for us was the Virginia Tech game where we put him back in after he had not had a very good start to the game. We get him in the two-minute again and now he looks great and now we're like, 'OK, we got this figured out now. Let's shorten his drop. Let's get these feet moving quickly. Let's get him through his progressions.' The ball comes out faster. Quicker decisions.

“Look, he never throws, we call it a bubble throw, the perimeter bubble, he didn't throw those before. But he's accurate and the ball comes out quickly and you can see what happens when you get it into those skill guys hands, they turn those into big plays."

Those flares to the edge showcased the Irish speed at wideout, especially for Avery Davis and Lorenzo Styles Jr. Those plays also helped loosen up the interior of the Tar Heels' defense, which yielded 293 rushing yards to the Irish.

Only 28 yards of that real estate belonged to Coan, but it all factored into the offense's most complete performance of the season.

“I was excited about it,” Coan said of his increased involvement in the running game. “I feel like I'm healthy, I can run – it's something I can do – and it was good to show it.”