Could BK's Teams Run the Ball at ND?

Yes, they were known as power running teams.

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Yeah idk what the hell happened.

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Denbrock

Yeah but hes playing La Tech and Ole Miss.

As a ND student his last 4 years at ND, he absolutely ran the ball and pushed around inferior d-lines year in and year out. Even against elite teams ND did well in running and line play, we just lacked the elite athletes (esp secondary and passing game) to really truly compete with the top dogs. Kelly thought he could get that falling from trees at LSU which has indeed come much easier. But I think he maybe took for granted how easy it was to have solid trenches and lunch pail hard nosed running backs… cuz I have not really seen either in any of his years here at LSU

You think we could run against them or something??

What the knuckleheaded chucklefricks in this comment section won't tell you, because all of them just hate the man, is that his run game has always utilized a dual threat QB.

Also, it has nothing to do with Denbrock. Denbrock was the OC and play caller for 3 years.

Central Michigan
Kent Smith - 112 car 350 yards 10 TDs (starting RB 262 carries 1284 yards)
Kent Smith - 157 car 443 yards 7 TDs (starting RB 220 car 1065 yards 8 TD)
Dan Lefevour 132 car 520 yards 7 TD (first in 2nd string RB combined for 1100 yards 11 TDs)

Cincinnati
Ben Mauck - 99 car 377 yards 3 TD (top 3 RB combine for 1300 yards 8 TD)
Tony Pike - wasn't a dual threat, but was mobile. He had 3 other QBs and Pike combine for 106 carries. However it showed this year, THE FIRST YEAR IT HAPPENED, that he had a poor run team when he didn't have an effective runner at QB.

The next year Pike and Zach Collaros split time at QB. Zach was a true dual threat. While Pike completed 65% for 2520 yards 29 TDs to 6 ints, Collaros completed 75 for 1435 with 10 TD to 2 int, AND 57 car for 344 yards and 4 TDs. They finished 12-1 that year with the #4 scoring offense.

Notre Dame
Dane Crist - was a willing runner, just not anything special. Think of guys like Gunner Stockton and Ty Simpson for UGA and Bama. The run game was below average.
Tommy Rees - This was the one time i can remember even without researching, when they had a good run game from the RBs with a major presence runner at QB. Rees was a statue. They had a backup who could really run, but he wasn't like a split starter or anything like that.
Everett Golson - 94 car 300 yards 6 TDs
Tommy Rees again - Another outlier. Tommy Rees teams both seemed to have good run games. However i think that had more to do with how good the OL and RBs were. I say that because Rees 2011, they ran for 150 a game. With Golson in 2012 they ran for 190 a game. Then the next year with Rees again, they ran for 160.

And for any idiot that thinks it was because of cupcakes. Notre Dame was playing prime Stanford and Michigan St and Arizona St. Michigan and USC (who were winning 10+ games), and 10+ win Oklahomas.

However after that year Kelly did not go a year without a rushing threat at QB AS A STARTER until Jack Coen. Buckner was a backup and had 336 yards on 46 carries.

Everett Golson part 2
Deshone Kizer
Brandon Wimbush
Ian Book

People bring up FSU and saying the RBs couldn't run. LSU didn't have a RB in that game that finished top 4 in rushing by the end of the season. The guy that started, never had another carry again. In 2022, Daniels contributed 885. The running backs contributed 1687 yards (which is 130 rush yards per games). In 2023 Daniels contributed 1134 yards. The RBs contributed 1525 or 117 ypg. To get to 150 yards per game rushing BOTH YEARS, all you needed was a QB to averaged 20 ypg in 2022 and 33 ypg in 2023.

Long story short, LSU needs a QB that can run. No more stiff guys like Nuss.

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Exactly. Even though we beat the hell out of Southeastern we STILL couldn’t physically dominate the line of scrimmage.

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They couldn’t even block consistently, much less dominate. #51 poked holes in that line multiple times a drive and kept Nussmeier hurried.

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Long story short, LSU needs a QB that can run. No more stiff guys like Nuss.

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This is the most overused crap I read anywhere. Go tell that shite to Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning (or Eli), Drew Brees, and many others with Rings and gold jackets that a QB needs to average 30ypg to be successful. Hell even Mett at LSU under miles was able to have extremely productive seasons without being a running threat (-313yds for his 3yr LSU career).

Does having a Jayden or Lamar Jackson style QB help? Absolutely. But it is not required to run a successful offense. What is required is a flexible coach that understands the strengths of his team and comes up with offensive schemes that play into those strengths. A coach that trys to force his preferred scheme regardless of talent, opponent, or situations as you post shows Brian Kelly does will struggle to have sustained success against the best opponents.

Bottom line, Kelly was bailed out by Jayden. He's not smart enough to change his scheme in a way that works for a pocket passer.

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This is the most overused crap I read anywhere. Go tell that shite to Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning (or Eli), Drew Brees, and many others with Rings and gold jackets that a QB needs to average 30ypg to be successful. Hell even Mett at LSU under miles was able to have extremely productive seasons without being a running threat (-313yds for his 3yr LSU career).

Does having a Jayden or Lamar Jackson style QB help? Absolutely. But it is not required to run a successful offense. What is required is a flexible coach that understands the strengths of his team and comes up with offensive schemes that play into those strengths. A coach that trys to force his preferred scheme regardless of talent, opponent, or situations as you post shows Brian Kelly does will struggle to have sustained success against the best opponents.

Bottom line, Kelly was bailed out by Jayden. He's not smart enough to change his scheme in a way that works for a pocket passer.

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First of all, you're literally missing my entire point lol. My point is not saying the QB sucks. My point is saying how the run game is affected by the QB. Nuss is zero threat to run. LSU does not have Derrius Guice or Leonard Fournette in the backfield. Not even close. Both of those guys moved the pile. Both of those guys were tackle breakers. That means NUSS MUST BE THE X FACTOR! Right now he can't pass nor run. If Nuss could run, we have the speed at RB to make read option deadly.

Secondly, I'm talking about BK's offense anyway. This is not a pro style offense. This is not an air raid. We literally use read option, where Nuss never takes the ball.

Lane Kiffin's offense has evolved as well. He used to use pocket passers. Kiffin hasn't had a pocket passer since FAU. As a matter of fact, his rushing numbers fell at FAU each year because he had less and less of a rushing threat at QB. His first year there his QB averaged over 5 yards a carry and had over 500 rush yards and 8 TDs. With a 1900 yard RB, that offense averaged over 280 rush yards a game. Next year the QB ran for 200 yards and he had a 1400 yard rusher and an 860 yard rusher. They finished 240 rushing per game. The starting RB went to the NFL and the next year with a statue QB, the rushing offense fell all the way down to 166 yards per game.

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Secondly, I'm talking about BK's offense anyway. This is not a pro style offense. This is not an air raid. We literally use read option, where Nuss never takes the ball.

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This is the point I'm trying to make. It is absolutely a BK problem. If the QB is not a running threat (which i agree Nuss is not) why would you run read option? Because its trendy? Does it make him feel cool? Like part of the in crowd?

Run an f-ing offense that suits your QB, or change to a QB that fits the offense. Stop trying to force that square peg in a round hole. Even if Nuss was playing at the level he did last year, the offensive scheme is not best suited to his strengths. This should have been apparent in camp, and honestly was apparent in games last season when people were screaming for Nuss to run and he wouldn't.
I go back to my original premise. A coach should not be married to a specific scheme. They should scheme around they strengths of their roster. As you state in your example, Lane Kiffin evolved based on his players strengths. Why can't BK?