Notre Dame football heads into this weekend with a 3-0 record and a No. 3 ranking in the latest AP poll for the 2026 college football season.

There is a lot of good that head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish have shown through 3 games, but one aspect of the Notre Dame offense led by offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock and star quarterback CJ Carr that needs to get a whole lot better is the rushing attack.

In 3 games, the Fighting Irish have managed just 130 yards per game on the ground while averaging 3.6 yards per carry. At 390 total yards rushing, the run game is led by sophomore tailback Nolan James Jr., who has carried the ball 39 times for 169 yards and 3 touchdowns at 4.3 yards per carry.

That is outdoing Aneyas Williams, who has 38 carries for 144 yards and 3 touchdowns at just 3.8 yards per tote. A year after losing Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price to the NFL, most expected the run game to take a step back, and it obviously has. Notre Dame needs to find some answers.

A Purdue defense ripe for the taking

This is a team built on being physical up front and running the football, and so far the Irish have underwhelmed compared to their typical expectation. Notre Dame does have a perfect opportunity this weekend when the Purdue Boilermakers come to town for a get-right game with the rushing attack.

Purdue has been poor in stopping the run through 3 contests, surrendering an average of 207 yards on the ground at 5.5 yards per carry. That is an ugly number, especially under a coach like Barry Odom, who specializes on the defensive side of the football.

You can bet that Denbrock and the offensive staff will be studying this team’s previous matchup against UCLA, where Purdue allowed the Bruins to rush for 370 yards on just 47 carries. That averages out to 7.9 yards per pop. UCLA was led by James Madison transfer Wayne Knight, who toted the rock 18 times for 177 yards and 2 scores on the ground.

While Purdue presents some interesting matchups for Notre Dame’s defense with quarterback Ryan Browne and former Minnesota transfer running back Fame Ijeboi, this is a Boilermaker defense that is susceptible to the ground game.

What a strong performance would mean

This weekend will also allow Notre Dame to get a pulse on potential improvements behind James, Williams and potentially true freshman Jonaz Walton. If the Fighting Irish cannot run the football against Purdue, that is a time for some concern, and the red flag might start to wave.

There is a level of patience that we’ve heard from Freeman and Denbrock, especially after rushing for 161 yards against Michigan State during the 27-10 victory, which was the team’s season high so far. There was a small amount of improvement, but when you are going against a poor run defense, Notre Dame needs to show major progress.

If there isn’t any, the rushing attack will continue to be the main talking point among the Notre Dame fan base as the schedule inches closer to bigger games like BYU and Miami, two teams that absolutely want to run the football at a heavy volume.

Notre Dame has a chance to answer some questions this weekend. Even if the Irish put together a great performance, not every fan will feel confident that it translates to those bigger matchups. But showcasing incremental growth would go a long way toward convincing everyone that this is a team that can legitimately make a deep playoff run.

Purdue is the ultimate get-right game for a struggling Notre Dame rushing attack. The Irish need to capitalize.