It was a night built for something amazing. Notre Dame, the No. 4 team in the country hosted the No. 1 ranked Miami Hurricanes in a prime time matchup that had all the extra flavor with special LED lights, fireworks, homage to Lou and his players, and a recruiting weekend unlike any other.
You had to wonder if the Irish were up to the challenge and the moment… and they were.
As ready as they seemed, Notre Dame was just trying to be steady early in the game. Notre Dame’s first drive was a bit of a dink
and dunk until they couldn’t any longer and were forced to kick a 44 yard Spencer Porath field goal.
Miami couldn’t find much success do anything during its first two drives, and Notre Dame took advantage with a 65 yard drive, that again, was mostly a little here — and a little there. It ended, however, with a bang, and Carr dropped in a dime to Jordan Faison for a touchdown to put the Irish up 10-0. Faison’s catch was a gorgeous toe tapper just inside the end zone.
Miami was game to answer the Irish touchdown, and put together a nice long drive of their own thanks to a slippery Darian Mensah, and some generous refs. The Canes got inside the Notre Dame one yard line, but a behemoth stand by the Irish stopped the Canes on 34d down, and Mario Cristobal opted for a field goal to make it 10-3.
The Irish defense started to really dominate and gave offense more opportunities to make plays. CJ Carr had been playing fairly conservatively, but he finally made some plays with his legs to extend the pass play, and the Irish fans were rewarded with an 18 yard Micah Gilbert touchdown reception with less than 30 seconds to go in the half.
Notre Dame forced a quick 3 and out during Miami’s opening 2nd half drive, and Jordan Fauison returned the punt to the Miami 30 yard line which set up another Micah Gilbert touchdown to put Notre Dame up 24-3.
But these are 60 minute games.
Miami responded in a big way. First they go 65 yards to score a Mensah to Lofton touchdown, and then they force a 3 and out on Notre Dame. Jasper Scaife’s punt went a measly 25 yards, and the Canes were set up again to chip away at the lead — which they did with another Mensah touchdown pass to cut the lead to 24-17, Irish.
Then, the Irish defense made maybe the biggest play of the night. Luke Talich stepped in front of a Darian Mensah pass intended for an out route and made a diving interception to give Notre Dame the ball back. Notre Dame did not squander this opportunity, and the Irish drove it down to the 1 yard line and then handed the ball to Nolan James for the score to put ND up 31-17 with 12:55 left in the game.
It was Miami’s turn to answer, and they looked desperate as it gets down two touchdowns. The Canes, however, started converting their 3rd downs and drove down the field long enough for the refs to get involved (again) with a DPI in the end zone which set them top for a short touchdown pass two plays later.
With 9:53 left in the game, Notre Dame still had the lead 31-24, but it felt like ALL of the pressure was on the offense to go down and get points.
Despite a nice start to Notre Dame’s next drive, they fizzled out at the 35 yard line and were forced to have Spencer Porath attempt a 53 yard — which failed miserably.
Blah blah blah… I got lost in a sea of humanity after Notre Dame sealed the win and the crowd rushed the field.
More to come on OFD.
