Notre Dame’s offense has been ravaged by skill players leaving for one reason or another lately. Running back is one position that has not been affected, so [autotag]Audric Estime[/autotag] remains the Irish’s top rusher heading into the Gator Bowl. Estime needs 175 rushing yards to crack 1,000 for the season, but he would have to top his career high of 134 against North Carolina to do it. While it’s not impossible, a lot of things will have to go his way for it to happen.
South Carolina has lost some depth at running back since the regular season ended, so Juju McDowell becomes the Gamecocks’ top rusher by default. He has been more efficient catching passes than taking handoffs, so it makes you wonder how often the Gamecocks will run the ball. They won’t completely abandon the run, but it will be interesting to see how many times they implement it. Hopefully, a month to prepare for this game was enough to figure that out.
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