Notre Dame needed to put away Miami on Saturday night, and the player who has made play after play this season came up big when his team needed him most.
Nolan James Jr. caught a 36-yard pass out of the backfield from CJ Carr on fourth-and-2, then scored on a one-yard touchdown run moments later to put the Irish up 31-17 in the fourth quarter.
“I knew what he was looking for and what he wanted to see in order to check,” James stated. “When he checked it, I had a good feeling that I might have it hit for a big run.”
“I was a little surprised that I was that open, but I knew the ball was coming my way just cause of the look. If you're going to check into that, you've got to have a specific look. But yeah, I was surprised I was that wide open.”
It was the 12th touchdown of the season for James and his third receiving score. In addition to his 571 rushing yards, James has proven to be a weapon out of the backfield, totaling 14 receptions for 141 yards and three touchdowns.
Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock has taken advantage of the skill sets of James and Aneyas Williams this season, as he’s consistently involved the running backs in the passing game.
“The more you can attack the defense, the more it opens up everything else for the offense,” explained James. “I think that’s super important, not just for the running backs, but for the offense as a whole. They can just get us out wide. It just opens up the run game and opens up other receivers. It limits what the defense can do in the box and it opens up a lot of things offensively.”
Saturday wasn't Notre Dame's best performance on the ground, as the Irish totaled just 92 yards on 29 carries. James led the way with 16 carries for 52 yards.
But when Notre Dame needed to run the ball, the Irish found a way. That included spreading the Miami defense out to create favorable matchups.
“I think it was important to spread them out, just get guys on the perimeter, and try to get some [favorable] matchups,” James said. “I know for one of those matchups, we were trying to get not just me but any of our running backs on linebackers just to create matchups and mismatches and see what we could get them in.”
That said, James and the running back room know they could have done a better job Saturday.
The good news is they have an opportunity to show that growth Saturday afternoon against Boston College.
“I think after watching the film, there's a lot we left out there as a running back room, and there's positives and negatives to that,” James stated. “It shows we have room for growth, but again, you always want those extra yards. I think there's a lot of little things we can clean up, some misruns we had. I think the positive is that it shows there's more room to grow.”
James and his teammates will also face the challenge of moving on from knocking off Miami.
And that starts with execution.
“It's really about what we do and how we execute,” stated James. “Whether there are 100,000 people in the stands or no people in the stands, we gotta go out there and do our job. It's nice to have that many people in the stands, but we've got to go out there and execute.”
James will also see some familiar faces Saturday, as he was once committed to Boston College.
There's no bad blood and James isn't treating the matchup any differently than another game.
“I have a ton of respect and love for a bunch of guys still on staff over there, but it's another game,” said James. “It's not anything extra personal for me.”
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