C.J. Carr threw for 342 yards and Jeremiyah Love scored twice as Notre Dame shook off a first-half haze and defeated the North Carolina Wolfpack, 36-7, Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium.
The Irish dominated on both sides of the ball, with the defense harassing Wolfpack signal caller CJ Bailey into three second-half interceptions. The Wolfpack defensive line was committed to stuffing the run, forcing the Carr to the skies. The Irish offense responded with 11 big passing plays of 15 or more yards. Love,
who was swarmed often, still managed 82 yards rushing on 18 carries and Jardarian Price managed another 15 chances for 66 yards.
Notre Dame started the scoring early, methodically marching down the field on a 6-play, 58-yard drive capped by Love running unmolested into the end zone with just under 10 minutes remaining in the first quarter.
N.C. State responded three drives later, when Irish freshman cornerback Dallas Golden took a bad route in his coverage of Terrell Anderson. Bailey dropped a bomb in Anderson’s arms and the receiver raced to finish the 45-yard score while Golden trailed helplessly behind.
The Irish’s next best chance to score arrived with about 4 minutes remaining before half. Two deep passes to Eli Raridon were complemented by two Price runs that yielded 7 yards. Facing 4th-and-3 from the Wolfpack 8, Carr encountered pressure and heaved a desperation pass to Malachi Fields. A potential pass interference call was picked up after refs determined Fields had stepped out of bounds before the pass arrived.
The Irish held a slim 10-7 lead at half, despite a clear advantage. The offense outgained their Wolfpack counterparts, 241-146. The. defense had three sacks, and kept quarterback CJ Bailey contained. Like the Boise State game that preceded this contest, the Irish appeared stymied by the ACC officiating crew. NC State’s 3rd and 4 pass with about 90 seconds remaining appeared incomplete, but the completion was upheld after review – lessening the Irish’s ability to respond. Two plays later, Bailey airmailed a pass to receiver Wesley Grimes which was cradled by Irish cornerback Christian Gray. With the Irish home crowd already miffed by the previous call, the ACC refs endured a louder chorus of boos for negating what appeared to be a sure interception at midfield.
The Irish squandered a chance to stack points after squandering their first second-half possession. But Carr and the passing offense found their groove two subsequent 80+ yard drives that both ended in Notre Dame scores. If there were something to complain about the second half, it was the next two drives where four plays yielded just one yard (and ended with a Noah Burnette field goal) and a Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa interception was negated by a Jadarian Price goal-line fumble. The Irish scored a free safety when Bailey botched a snap, and then added their second rushing touchdown to put the game out of reach with 5:13 remaining.
Notre Dame did yield a single red zone snap, limiting the Wolfpack to 5-of-16 on third down.
This was the Irish’s second 36-7 victory, with Jesse Harper’s squad downing the Texas Longhorns by the same score on Nov. 25, 1915.
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