Instant Reaction | Notre Dame 44 UNC 34

The Ringer’s Kevin Clark has a bit where he always retweets that the Seattle Seahawks have never played in a normal game. I don’t know if I’d go that far with Notre Dame, but it sure seems that way on nights like this.

The Irish offense is suddenly a juggernaut that scored points on eight of 10 drives. They had eight runs of 10-yards or more, five receptions of 20-yards or more, and rushed for 293. That means that even without that ridiculous Kyren Williams 91-yard touchdown run, they still would have broken 200 on the night.

They had a three game stretch this season where they rushed for 207.

They were rolling tonight and they needed to be with the defense struggling to contain Sam Howell. North Carolina put up an offensive performance worthy of winning the game. Notre Dame’s offense was just a bit better.

If I had told you Notre Dame would win an offensive shootout a month ago, you’d call me crazy. But they did just that and the only thing that felt normal about it was that it was not normal.

They rode the offense to a seventh win.

- At what point can we say that Kyen Williams deserves to be on the Mount Rushmore of players on offense from the Brian Kelly era? I think it’s already secured by now, but just wanted to double check.

I’d have him with Michael Floyd, Zack Martin, and Quenton Nelson.

That run was one of the best I have ever seen. I hope everyone is truly appreciating this back half of the season with him because he’s not going to be around next season.

- I’m trying to remember a game where calls (or no calls) were this impactful with how the game turned out.

The face masky by North Carolina on 4th and 3 could have changed a lot of things. The no call on the pick play that led to a 41-yard Josh Downs reception was massive. The review to (correctly) take back the 3rd and long conversion by UNC and the pass interference call on 3rd and long to set up Notre Dame with the insurance score were both significant as well.

Calls matter in every game. They just seemed to matter a bit more in big moments in this game.

- I can only tip my hat to Howell who took a ton of punishment as a runner and kept on going. He’s a tough kid and his ability to escape pressure was a difference-maker. Notre Dame had him in the grasp way too often and couldn’t bring him down.

They easily should have had six sacks or more, but ended up with three.

That brings up the tackling in this game and I don’t know how anyone could move past it. The misses in the backfield were bad because they were so frequent and I don’t know how many times that UNC pushed for extra yards when Notre Dame couldn’t get a ball carrier on the ground.

UNC is a good offense. The best the Irish have faced all season. That doesn’t mean that the level of play should be accepted. It’s not even at a point where one or two guys could be pointed out as the main culprits.

It was bad as a whole and that’s on Marcus Freeman and the entire defensive staff to work to fix.

- I was happy to see DJ Brown make that pick and it ended up being a play that swung the game in the direction of Notre Dame. I can’t help but think about if Kyle Hamilton was the single high safety on the Ty Chandler long touchdown and the fake screen that UNC hit for a touchdown that those wouldn’t have been touchdowns.

Hamilton can erase mistakes and they don’t have anyone who can do that without him.

- Lorenzo Styles Jr. should have had that under thrown long ball by Jack Coan. He also should get more targets each week because he is electric.

- If they weren’t going to use Chris Tyree on offense, why did they have him back returning kickoffs?

- I don’t think Notre Dame did a bad job on Josh Downs. I just think he’s that good and what he does after the catch makes him one of the most difficult players to defend in college football.

He’s special.

- Jordan Botelho did get credit for his first career sack on that intentional grounding call. I think that will be the first of many.

- Winning ugly is how this team wins. If you’re not used to it by now, then you haven’t been paying attention.

This whole season has been ugly with key injuries at every position. And yet, they keep on winning.

I’m always left with questions about this team, but they somehow find answers when they need it. I don’t know what that means for them compared to many top teams in college football in 2021, but I know I’m not going to pick against them the rest of the season.

They’d just find a way to make me look stupid for doubting that they would find a way to win.