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Tailback Darius Walker needs for the Irish offensive line to play physical if Notre Dame is to achieve greater consistency on offense, writes Allen Pinkett of MSNBC.com.

Allen Pinkett

The Irish, who have a bye week after playing Stanford on Saturday, want to be a team on the rise through the second half of their schedule.

Here are the five most important things Notre Dame must improve upon to reach that goal.
 
Establish consistency on offense
I believe the Irish made a turnaround offensively in their comeback win over Michigan State on Sept. 23. They started to play in a different and higher gear.

I think early in the season Notre Dame -- while having its moments on offense -- overall looked a bit mechanical on its attack. When the Irish fell behind big against the Spartans, it sparked them to finally get more physical on the offensive line, and they finally started to play looser and with a sense of urgency.

All of this worked to their advantage. It allowed them to start making plays on a more consistent basis. That said, greater offensive consistency is still an objective of Irish head coach Charlie Weis.

To achieve that Notre Dame must be able to establish a running game. When the Irish are able to run against an opponent, everything else will work offensively for them.

The running game is like a good jab in boxing -- if you can establish it, an opponent will become susceptible to being hurt or even knocked out by other weapons.

Also, when a team is running the ball well, it gains the ability to stretch the field and throw the ball deep.

Continue physical play on the offensive line
This happens everywhere, but sometimes the offensive line gets overly concerned and focused on individual assignments, and the linemen become mechanical. It's step here, plant here, and punch there instead of just coming off the snap with the intention of overpowering those on the other side of the ball.

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I think in the second half of Notre Dame's win over Michigan State as well as in the Purdue game (Sept. 30), the Irish offensive line displayed much more physical play.

And when Notre Dame is physical on the offensive line, there's nothing so-so about its ground game. Rather, when the boys up front are muscling up, the impact of that physicality can usually be seen in the rushing yards gained. Case in point: Darius Walker rushing for 146 yards and a touchdown on 31 carries against the Boilermakers.

More pressure on opposing quarterbacks
Purdue lost to the Irish, but it was able to attempt 46 passes without having its quarterback sacked once. The Irish got good pressures on Purdue quarterback Curtis Painter, and defensive end Victor Abiamiri seemed to be bringing heat on Painter all game long, but he was never sacked.

To get more sacks, the Irish need more speed in getting to opposing quarterbacks, and that speed I believe needs to come from the perimeter -- from the defensive ends.

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At the defensive tackles, Trevor Laws and Derek Landri are doing an excellent job of manhandling the guards and centers they are going up against. Laws and Landri have gotten great penetration all season long, and Weis has singled them out just about every week as having had good games.

To get that extra step of speed a defensive end must use all the keys available to him, including watching much film of opponents to see if there may be any signals from opposing offenses when they line up that will help the ends get off the snap a bit faster.

The Irish benefit from having depth on the defensive line, and these players rotate in and out so as to try and stay fresh throughout the game.

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