Bagpipe Monday: How Big Is The Loss Of Alex Bars For The Notre Dame Fighting Irish?

WELCOME to the 5-0 Bagpipe Monday on One Foot Down! Friends, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have looked incredible since the insertion of Ian Book as the starting quarterback. For the season, Book is 52 of 70 for 616 yards 7 touchdowns with 0 interceptions.

@phillykelly

People are getting pretty giddy about the rest of the season and what this team could accomplish. Besides the invigorating passing game, the running game has been really good and the defense is only giving up 18 points a game. So yeah... the future is bright.

This incredible start hasn’t been without its share of casualties along the way.

Notre Dame is starting to look a little thin at running back again with injuries to Jafar Armstrong (knee infection) and Tony Jones Jr. (ankle). The addition of Dexter Williams against Stanford was exactly what this offense needed, but they will definitely need to see some involvement from Avery Davis, and the freshman backs; Jahmir Smith and C’bo Flemister.

The biggest hit though was the guy that protects Book and paves the way for the backs, and that’s Alex Bars. The loss of Alex for the season due to a knee injury is HUGE in my eyes. Bars hasn’t been on the same level as Quenton Nelson was last season, but he has definitely had his moments and had been playing really good football this season.

With so many hopes and dreams on the line for the Irish, how big of a loss is Alex right now? Notre Dame has already dipped into their reserves along the line for various reasons, and the depth has been decently good, but can they step up for the remainder of the season in bigger roles?

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Notre Dame has a really tough matchup coming up with the Virginia Tech Hokies in Blacksburg. Given that incredible environment (and at night) will a Notre Dame offensive line without Alex Bars be good enough to continue to play at the level that they have been playing over the last two weeks?

Guys like Trevor Ruhland, Josh Lugg, and Aaron Banks will be called upon for more minutes now, so are they up to the task? Just think about that for a few minutes (and try not to drink). I have a lot of confidence in them as they rotate in during the game, but we still have to see them as these roles become increased dramatically.

Before I end this, I want to make sure it’s put out there that Alex bars has been a great offensive lineman for Notre Dame over the years, a captain, and a wonderful representative for the University. He has a bright future ahead of him, and we should all thank him and hope for the best for Alex in the future after this really tough break.

Enjoy the pipes!