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(AP) - Not much has slowed the Notre Dame rushing attack this season.
Not the preseason loss of Greg Bryant, last season's second-leading rusher, because of academic ineligibility. Not the loss of Tarean Folston, last year's leading rusher, to a season-ending knee injury in the opener against Texas. Not leading rusher C.J. Prosise sustaining a concussion against Pittsburgh last week.
With Prosise out, Josh Adams carried 20 times for 147 yards - one shy of tying the freshman school record set by Jerome Heavens in 1975 against Georgia Tech in the game best remembered for walk-on Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger playing the final 27 seconds.
Prosise has passed the first test in the concussion protocol and took part in football activities during practice Thursday, but coach Brian Kelly said that he still hasn't been cleared to play Saturday when the No. 6 Fighting Irish face Wake Forest (3-6) in their final home game.
He says it could be a game-time decision. Kelly says Prosise looked good to him at practice. It was his first day working out with the team since being injured against Pittsburgh.
Prosise is listed as the starter on the depth chart. Kelly said even if Prosise is ready to go, Adams' performance against Pitt earned him some carries.
"I think he can lessen the load for C.J. and provide us with another option in there as well," Kelly said.
Kelly said in some ways Adams is ahead of Prosise because he's been playing the position longer. Prosise started at defensive back for the Irish before switching to receiver and then running back and looks to make defenders miss.
"I think it's just a natural development of a running back where Josh just expects to run through a tackler or two, and C.J.'s still feeling his way through that," Kelly said.
The Irish (8-1) are averaging 220.6 rushing yards, which is 61.1 more than a year ago and their highest average since running for 269.5 per game in 1996. The stat is skewed by the fact Notre Dame rushed for 457 yards against Massachusetts, but even without that game, the team is averaging 191.0. That's the program's best since a 213.5 mark in 2000.
Kelly believes there are a number of reasons for the increase, including the coaching staff putting more of an emphasis on running and an improved offensive line.
"I think that that's a big difference from last year to this year and the way they're working together," Kelly said.
Another factor is Malik Zaire and DeShone Kizer are better with the read-option than Everett Golson was last year, making it more difficult on opposing defenses.
Kelly has tried to avoid the playoff talk - the Irish moved up one spot to No. 4 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday - but said he has no problem with one-loss teams being ranked ahead of unbeatens by the committee. He said important factors are strength of schedule and the "eye test."
"I don't think that you can stumble more than once. I think that's where the cutoff point is," he said. "You can't be inconsistent and be really good, because that can't be part of the equation."
It's highly unlikely Notre Dame will suffer a second loss Saturday, even with Wake coming off a bye week.
The Demon Deacons have lost three straight and are among the lowest-scoring teams in the FBS at 18.7 points per game. John Wolford and Kendall Hinton have been splitting time at quarterback but rank 10th and 14th in the ACC in passer rating, respectively.
Wake has lost 12 in a row to ranked foes, including a 38-0 defeat to the then-No. 3 Irish in 2012 in the most recent matchup.
"It's just an opportunity to show what we're made of and show that we can compete with anyone in the nation, so we're preparing just like it's any other game," offensive lineman Tyler Hayworth said. "We're ready to take this opportunity and roll with it."
