Carlos Osorio / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Charlie Weis tried to prove his team could run the ball with seven straight running plays to start the game, but it didn't get the Irish very far.

The Spartans ran Javon Ringer 43 times a week ago against Florida Atlantic. They ran him 39 times on Saturday against Notre Dame. Michigan State visits Indiana next Saturday and Ringer’s number will be dialed another three dozen times.

The Irish? Well, at least they don’t rotate quarterbacks (any more). In East Lansing they seem to have at least found their playmaker in sophomore wideout Golden Tate. After scoring on a 48-yard touchdown pass last week, Tate trotted back to the sideline, facetiously and bold-facedly declaring to his head coach, “I cannot be stopped!”

You know what? He may be right. Tate had one carry versus Michigan State, a reverse, that went for 24 yards. That is Notre Dame’s longest rushing play of the season. Tate also had five catches including a ridiculous grab on third-and-17 in which he had to come back to make the catch, shed two tacklers who were draped all over him, cut back against the grain and earn the first down.

“There were a couple of plays that (Golden) made that just shouldn’t be made,” Weis said. “Obviously, Golden shows up every game.”

Tate shows up every game on offense, but neither he nor we know if it’s going to be an offense that is more inclined to run the ball or pass the ball. Oh, wait. Yes, we do. It’s more inclined to pass the ball.

The Irish scripted those opening six ‘tween-the-tackles running plays, or lifted them from Woody Hayes’ playbook. No one will nominate that script for best original screenplay (and, yes, that’s a double gridiron entendre). It’s as if the Irish ran those plays out of a need for street cred, to demonstrate that they can do smashmouth.

Except that they cannot. The offensive line averages north of 300 pounds per man, yet they accumulated just 16 net rushing yards on 22 carries (0.7 yards per rush). Even if you subtract the sacks of Clausen, the Irish were held to 54 yards on 16 carries. In three games, the Irish have 234 yards rushing, or 78 yards per game.  

“They were physically able to outmatch us,” said junior right tackle Sam Young, who made his 25^th start. “They shut us down.

It has to be said: this offensive line, much like last year’s, is soft.

Or maybe the O-line, like us, knows deep down that their head coach is a passaholic. He may open the game with seven straight running plays (which is almost literally a 12-step program) but eventually he will revert to the pass. It would be nice to be balanced — certainly it is easier to recruit five-star running backs if you can demonstrate as much — but right now Notre Dame is a passing offense with a running problem.

“It’s football,” said Clausen. “You throw and run the ball.”

Except that Notre Dame doesn’t run the ball very well. Didn’t last year, either. Not even so much the year before that. In fact, it has been seven years (don’t let the sights of Julius Jones and Ryan Grant and Darius Walker in NFL uniforms mislead you) since the Irish finished in the top 50 nationally in rushing.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame rotates in three running backs and as many as six wide receivers, but only Tate is truly spectacular. Although Michael Floyd, the freshman wideout who had a team-high seven catches against the Spartans, may be well on his way. This isn’t a variety show. The only numbers that matter on offense are the ones on the scoreboard.

And how does the Notre Dame defense feel about all of this?

“I’m not going to say it frustrates us,” said Brian Smith, who is his unit’s version of Golden Tate. “But I’m not going to say that it doesn’t.”

Someone once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Call me crazy, but unless Notre Dame treats its rushing attack as more than just a passing fancy, they might as well just pass the ball.

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