SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly isnt concerned that quarterback DeShone Kizer is the second-leading rusher for the Fighting Irish after five games.The Irish have had to lean heavily on the 6-foot-4, 230-pound junior to help overcome a defense on pace to give up a school-record 33.4 points a game. Kizer, 12th in the nation in passing with 1,567 yards, has carried the ball 52 times for 187 yards, which includes 49 yards lost on eight sacks.Kelly said Tuesday he monitors Kizers runs carefully.I think a couple things that have to change is that he cant expose himself to unnecessary hits and we have to be very careful in terms of the run game that we put together that were not putting him in a position where he has free hits, Kelly said.Even with those sacks and officially just 1 yard gained against Syracuse on Saturday, Kizer has outrushed Tarean Folston and Dexter Williams and nearly has as many runs as their combined 58 carries. Kizer, who set the school record for quarterbacks last season with 10 rushing touchdowns, has six already this year, which is one more than leading rusher Josh Adams (1), Folston (1) and Williams (3) have combined.The Irish got off to a 4-1 start a year ago with a balanced offensive attack, running for 1,250 yards and passing for 1,307. While struggling to a 2/3 start this season, they havent been nearly as balanced production-wise, running for 838 yards and passing for 1,639.Runs have accounted for nearly 34 percent of the total offense. The only time the Irish were less balanced offensively under Kelly was in first season in 2010, when runs accounted for a little more than 33 percent of the offense.Kelly said the reason for the disparity is because opponents defenses have been focusing on stopping the run and trying to put pressure on Notre Dames young receivers.If they want to keep doing them we have to keep proving that we can throw the football, and I think youll see that running game come back into more balance, he said.That could be a problem in the next three games as the Irish face North Carolina State (3-1), which ranks 13th in the nation in run defense, while Stanford (3-1) is 37th at 125 yards a game and 10th-ranked Miami (4-0) is 27th. The Irish may need to depend more on the run in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Saturday, with weather from Hurricane Matthew possibly making it tough to pass.Kelly said the Irish do need to get better at running the ball, but that hes not too concerned about it because their offense averages 495 yards and 39.8 points a game, which would both be school records.If you let us throw the football all over the field, were going to throw it and we wont run it as much. So are there things we can get better at in the running game? Absolutely. But weve been afforded the opportunity to throw the ball around the field, he said.---Online: www.collegefootball.ap.orgCustom Shirts Sale . Irving scored 23 points, Tristan Thompson had 20 points and 10 rebounds and the Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-109 on Friday night. Custom Jerseys China .ca! Hi Kerry, Its another day and here we are looking at another dubious hit to the head. 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DOVER, Del. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. has driven a racing simulator as part of his rehabilitation for a concussion, and he said Saturday that the next eventual step would be to get into one of his late model stock cars.When that would be has not been determined as the Hendrick Motorsports driver continues to recover from a concussion suffered June 12 at Michigan that has kept him out of the car since July 9 at Kentucky. He has missed 10 races and will miss the final eight this season while he recovers, hoping to return for the 2017 season.Im not ready [to get in a car], Earnhardt said Saturday. I know that. Ill know when Im ready and its not one of them things that has a schedule. You dont know when youre going to be, All right, Im good, lets go do this.I have been driving a simulator a little bit. That is not the same thing as driving a real race car, but it does challenge me mentally and does challenge the issues and symptoms.Earnhardt is attending the Sprint Cup practices and Xfinity race Saturday as well as the Cup race Sunday at Dover. The noises and the commotion of a race weekend is part of his rehab to see whether it will trigger the balance issues he continues to battle.Walking through the garage and signing autographs is tough, Earnhardt said as he walked through the Sprint Cup garage Saturday and down pit road to check on his Xfinity Series team. My balance gets bad. Youve got a lot of things happening in your peripheral [vision] and stuff -- that is something that is going to challenge it.Thats pretty much it. My eyes have gotten a lot better. I dont really notice issues with my eyes quite as much anymore. But the balance stuff is still needing some work.At the point where he can walk through the garage and not have a reaction, Earnhardt said he would feel 100 percent normal. And then he would work on having the reaction time needed to racee.ddddddddddddEarnhardt is being treated by Dr. Micky Collins of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sports Medicine Concussion Program.I feel so much better than I did five weeks ago, Earnhardt said. I would have never thought about coming to the race track five weeks ago.Jeff Gordon is substituting for Earnhardt this weekend and later this month at Martinsville. Alex Bowman will drive the car the other six races. Earnhardt admitted its hard not to climb in the car before Jeff does.Its nice being in the garage and being around race cars and watching everybody kind of get through the day and watching the team work and all that, Earnhardt said. Its pretty fun. ... I try to stay out of the way.I want to be here, I guess, just to kind of see what theyre doing and what theyre dealing with so when I get back in the car, its not so far and I dont have a lot of catching up to do.As he has contended throughout his rehab, Earnhardt said he is not considering retirement and if there is an exit plan for him, he doesnt know it.Im not ready to hang it up, he said.Earnhardt continues to remain busy. He spent Thursday at Talladega Superspeedway promoting the Oct. 23 race and then spent Friday night at the Mooresville (N.C.) High School homecoming game.Ive always wanted to go but we never had the chance because of the schedules, said Earnhardt, who attended Mooresville schools before going to military school. I told [my fiancée] Amy, I said, Man, lets just go so we can say we went. I didnt even know it was homecoming, so that was pretty neat.Mooresville has usually got a really good team. It was just a great experience. I just like to support the community and enjoy the same old stuff, just be normal for a minute. That was fun. ' ' '