Notre Dame running back Armando Allen started to live up to the hype in last Saturday's 38-21 win over Purdue.
He ran for a career-high 134 yards and his first rushing touchdown in the victory that improved the team's record to 3-1.
Allen arrived at Notre Dame in January 2007 as a highly touted recruit after missing his senior season at Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School because of a broken left ankle.
He said his ankle was fine last year, but he and the Irish offense struggled. He ran for 91 yards on 16 carries against Navy, but the speedster never had a run longer than 15 yards.
He had five runs longer than that against Purdue, earning him the starting job heading into Saturday's game against Stanford (3-2).