Notre Dame Experiences Offensive Awakening in Comfortable Road Win
With 10:24 left in the third quarter, North Carolina coach Mack Brown threw his hat and headset onto the turf in disgust.
He then proceeded to scream at the referees over a pass interference call on Tar Heel linebacker Cedric Gray on fourth-and-goal from the UNC 3-yard line.
It may have served as a last-ditch effort to motivate his team, which would trail Notre Dame 38-14 after a 1-yard Audric Estime touchdown run on the very next play.
But his frustration was also a sign of watching his undefeated team appear overmatched against the Fighting Irish throughout Saturday’s contest.
“I thought the start of the second half was an absolute killer,” Brown said. “They drive down and score and then we fumble on the first play. I thought we’d stopped them on the fourth and three, but [the refs] call pass interference.”
For the first time all season, the Notre Dame offense grabbed control of a game and stepped on the gas, which it needed to prove it could do against North Carolina’s meager defense.
The Fighting Irish entered the matchup averaging 18.3 points and 300.3 yards per game, both of which ranked them among the bottom-20 FBS programs.
Notre Dame (2-2) exceeded both figures by the first half and finished with 576 yards of total offense in a 45-32 win over North Carolina (3-1) inside Kenan Memorial Stadium.
Fighting Irish running backs Chris Tyree, Audric Estime and Logan Diggs accounted for four touchdowns and 353 total yards, 264 of which came on the ground for 6.2 yards per carry.
“When you rush the ball as well as they did, everything else works and it’s easy,” Brown said. “They hit a few explosive plays in the passing game. We only had the ball for a little over 21 minutes and that’s the best way to beat us: keep our offense off the field.”
Notre Dame's success on the ground proved to be the primary driver behind the team’s historic day. The Irish picked up 35 first downs, the most the team’s had since Lou Holtz’s final season as head coach in 1996.
It was the type of dominating performance from the Notre Dame offensive line that everyone, including the coaching staff, expected all season.
”It’s what you hope Notre Dame football is going to be,” said Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman. “You’re going to have an O-Line that can run the ball even if a team knows we’re going to run the ball. I’m not saying you have to get 10 yards — those were added bonuses today.
“But to be able to run the ball at will and get 4 to 5 yards is something you have to be able to do, especially with our current roster. They did a really good job. That’s a group you see game one to game four has really gotten better.”
Now, the offense wasn’t perfect. One blemish came when Estime fumbled the ball on the goal line late in the game, which provided North Carolina with a small glimmer of hope.
The Notre Dame offense also started slow once again, going three-and-out on its first drive after two of quarterback Drew Pyne’s passes were batted down at the line of scrimmage.
After that, the junior signal caller settled in and completed 24 of 34 passes for 289 yards and 3 touchdowns.
“Today, he continued to make good decisions,” Freeman said. “He executed and put the ball where it needed to be and some guys made some plays.”
Pyne targeted No. 87, Michael Mayer, 9 times for 7 receptions, 88 yards and a touchdown.
”87 is a heck of a football player,” Freeman said. “We’ll move forward finding ways to get the ball in his hands. We found unique ways. We ran him on a jet sweep today. You wouldn’t think 87 is getting the ball on a jet sweep. He hit it and it’s going to make a DB think twice about coming in there and tackling him. He’s a guy that can do so many different things for you.”
The Irish defense proved adequate against a prolific North Carolina offense. Heading into the contest, the Tar Heels ranked in the top five in total offense and scoring with 547.3 yards and 51.3 points per game.
North Carolina finished the game with 367 yards of total offense and was shut down on the ground. In their first three games, the Tar Heels averaged 237.3 rush yards, but Notre Dame held them to just 66 yards on 24 carries.
“To hold that offense to 66 rushing yards is a great accomplishment by our defense,” Freeman said.
Where the Irish defense came up short is in the significant number of big plays they allowed.
North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye connected on five passes of 23-yards or more, including second-half touchdown strikes of 63 and 80 yards.
Despite Notre Dame’s late-game blunders, an Irish victory was never in doubt after Brown’s unsportsmanlike penalty in the third quarter.
“Notre Dame was better than we are,” Brown said. “They’ve had top-10 recruiting classes every year, so you know they have great players. They just hadn’t put it together yet. They played much better today than they did last week against Cal. Give them credit. That’s one of the best teams we’ve played since we’ve been here.”