Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1547006
18 OCT. 10, 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY ERIC HANSEN I t's not that Joe Rudolph hasn't pon- dered some of the solutions arm- chair offensive line coaches offer up to the Notre Dame assistant coach on social media and around the water cooler. Depth-chart engineering. The poten- tial impact of injured players returning. How all those pieces might eventually fit. What Notre Dame's fourth-year offen- sive line coach sees through the muddle of unsolicited advice, though, is a unit with the kind of ceiling to help Notre Dame win a national title — not one the Irish would have to keep winning in spite of. "I always fall back a little bit on [UCLA basketball coaching icon John] Wooden. It's not the overall talent level," Rudolph said of the defining tell that informs him when one of his offensive lines is evolv- ing toward greatness or at least moving in that direction. "It's: Can you be at your best when your best is needed? "Those are teams that win champion- ships to me. Sometimes they're the most talented team, sometimes they're not. And this team has a sneaky way about it where there's some things about it that are really good. There's some things that you want to be better at. But there's some things about it that align with [being your best when your best is needed] that are really good. It starts with maturity. "It starts with an ability to make ad- justments in a game plan, in a game. It starts with guys that put in the extra time and work and detail things up, even if those things may not show up in a game. They may show up later down the road." But why weren't all those qualities in place by Sept. 6, when the Irish opened the season in Green Bay, Wis., against Wisconsin? WHY THE O-LINE EVOLUTION TAKES TIME On Oct. 3 against North Carolina (2-1) in Chapel Hill, N.C., the No. 3-ranked Irish rolled out the same starting of- fensive line for the fourth straight game: junior Guerby Lambert at right tackle, senior and North Carolina product Sul- livan Absher at right guard, fifth-year Ashton Craig at center, junior Anthonie Knapp at left guard and sophomore Will Black at left tackle. Rudolph, now in his fourth year coaching Notre Dame's offensive linemen, had his unit ranked third nationally in fewest tackles for loss per game (2.00) and fourth in few- est sacks allowed per game (0.50) through four outings. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER COMING OF AGE Joe Rudolph sees the maturity, trust and adaptability taking shape in a Notre Dame offensive line that's still growing toward its championship ceiling.