Notre Dame cruises to a 45-32 victory over North Carolina
Notre Dame held up its end offensively Saturday in a game that was advertised to be a high-scoring shootout. North Carolina did not.
In its most balanced and impressive performance this season, Notre Dame (2-2) recorded a solid 45-32 road win against North Carolina (3-1) at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Raleigh, N.C.
With the game tied 14-14 in the second quarter, the Irish took control by scoring 24 unanswered points on its next four possessions to go up 34-14 and turn an expected tussle into a blowout.
A balanced offense was the key to this Irish victory.
In his second career start, Notre Dame junior quarterback Drew Pyne played smart and well, finishing with 24-of-34 passing for 289 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions.
Meanwhile, behind a terrific performance by the Irish offensive line, sophomore tailback Audric Estime paced a Notre Dame running game that recorded 287 yards and a 5.6 per-carry average. Estime finished with 134 yards on 17 carries with 2 touchdowns.
Not to be outdone, the Notre Dame defense held the high-powered Tar Heels offense to 367 total yards (180 yards below its season average) and 32 points (19 below its average).
Notre Dame also went 8-of-14 on its third downs, which clearly frustrated the Tar Heels defense and its coaches along the sideline.
The victory extended Notre Dame’s winning streak over the Tar Heels to five games, and its regular-season winning streak over ACC teams to 25 games, including 12 straight on the road.
North Carolina wasted no time flexing its offensive muscle with a 12-play, 76-yard touchdown drive on its first possession off the opening kickoff for a quick 7-0 lead.
The scoring drive was capped by a 4-yard touchdown pass from redshirt freshman quarterback Drake Maye to star junior receiver, Josh Downs, on a gutsy fourth-down play call.
Notre Dame responded two possessions later when Pyne capped a confident 8-play, 83-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown strike to junior tight end Michael Mayer that tied the game 7-7.
Notre Dame settled down from that point and demonstrated its best offensive balance this season.
Following a North Carolina three-and-out, the Irish went up 14-7 on a quick 3-play, 81-yard touchdown drive that was capped by a 30-yard scoring toss from Pyne to sophomore wide receiver Lorenzo Styles.
In what looked more like a tennis match than a football game at the time, Downs pulled North Carolina back to even at 14-14 with 6:55 left in the second quarter on his second touchdown grab of the first half.
From there, the Irish defense settled down, as did Pyne.
Making his second career start, Pyne led the Irish on four straight scoring drives — three TDs and one field goal — that helped his Irish to a 24-14 halftime lead that was never threatened in the second half.
Pyne led Notre Dame to a touchdown drive to start the third quarter with a 29-yard scoring pass to sophomore running back Logan Diggs to make the score 31-14.
From there, Notre Dame suffered a couple of sloppy defensive moments as it operated on cruise control late in the game, while North Carolina frantically and unsuccessfully tried to play catchup.
