Irish Pull Away from NC State, 36-7

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame football team (4-2) won its fourth consecutive game 36-7 over NC State (4-3) on the strength of a dominating offensive and defensive performance in the second half. The Irish led 10-7 at the halftime break, then scored 19 unanswered points while intercepting three Wolfpack passes and recording a safety in the game’s final 30 minutes.

CJ Carr threw for a career-high 342 yards in the game while adding touchdown strikes to Will Pauling and KK Smith. Pauling finished with 105 yards receiving in the contest while tight end Eli Raridon recorded his first 100-yard receiving contest of his career with seven catches for 109 yards.

Boubacar Traore keyed the defensive effort for Notre Dame with two of the team’s four sacks. Safety Tae Johnson and linebacker Drayk Bown led the team in tackles, both recording seven in the game.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Irish forced the Wolfpack into a quick three-and-out to start the game after kicking off. Boubacar Traore sacked the quarterback on second down to put NC State far behind the sticks after he was driven out of the pocket by a blitzing Drayk Bowen.

After the punt on the first play of the drive, CJ Carr faked to Jeremiyah Love and found a wide open Will Pauling 32 yards down field to the NC State 26. Two plays later Carr and Pauling hooked up again for 19 yards to the five-yard line. 

Love then powered ahead on three straight runs, eventually scoring from two yards out. 

NC State’s second possession was a quick three-and-out again that featured two short runs and a bounced pass on third down. 

Back in possession of the ball Notre Dame drove into scoring position again with the key play yet another Carr to Pauling pass for 42 yards. The offense stalled in the red zone, however, and on fourth-and-short Carr rolled out to his right and could not find an open receiver, running out of bounds for a sack. 

NC State tied the game on its next drive, first just scratching out three first downs before hitting the Irish with a big play. On third and 15, the Wolfpack got 15 yards for their initial first down of the game. Later in the drive on third-and-10 NC State got nine yards on a pass then barely pushed quarterback CJ Bailey across for the first down on fourth-and-one. 

Notre Dame forced yet another third down two plays later and NC State barely converted yet again on a solid catch at the first down marker on the sidelines. The next play, Bailey found wide receiver Terrell Anderson behind the defense for a quick strike 45-yard touchdown pass. 

A penalty doomed Notre Dame’s next drive. Jadarian Price started the possession with a 20-yard run and it looked like the Irish had another long play to Malachi Fields but Price was whistled for a ticky-tack holding call in pass protection. A Price 10-yard run followed by two incomplete passes led to Notre Dame’s first punt of the game. 

The visitors looked to have another drive working, but a holding penalty of their own pushed them back to third and 11. They split out their running back for a one-on-one go route against Bowen, but the Irish linebacker stayed with his assignment, the pass was overthrown and Notre Dame got the ball back after a punt. 

The Irish could not move the ball, however, and punted it right back to NC State after three plays. The Wolfpack were also stuck in neutral. Elijah Hughes sacked the quarterback on second down, then Jalen Stroman executed a perfect delayed blitz for another sack to force a punt. 

The pattern of the first half for the Irish offense continued as they moved the ball easily – until the red zone. Carr hooked up with Eli Raridon on back-to-back passes for 23 and 30 yards all the way down to the 15-yard line. Price moved the ball to the seven for third-and-two, but was stuffed on the run for another fourth down play in the red zone. 

After the two-minute timeout, Notre Dame went for the touchdown but no one was open and Carr had to try to force a throw into the end zone that was intercepted. A penalty flag on the play was picked up after the officials discussed the play, which would kickstart two minutes of very interesting officiating. 

NC State took over with the ball and after Notre Dame forced them into a third and long, the Wolfpack seemed to convert on a third-down play. The diving catch on the sidelines, initially called a catch, was reviewed by replay. It appeared there was video evidence of the ball hitting the ground, but the play was upheld. 

Two plays later, Christian Gray made a diving interception to give Notre Dame the ball at midfield. The catch looked clean but the official ran in and called it incomplete. Contrary to the previous play where there was video evidence of the ball touching the turf, on this play there was none. The play call was upheld, however and NC State continued their drive. 

Undeterred, the Irish defense forced a punt with 23 seconds remaining and Jordan Faison made points a possibility on the final drive with a 30-yard punt return. 

Carr looked to Faison on the first play and he was tackled by the defense for pass interference. Fields then made a catch over the middle for 20 yards and Notre Dame spiked the ball at the NC State 35-yard line. 

Without timeouts, Carr quickly connected with Raridon on two passes for a total of five yards to inch closer to the end zone. Noah Burnette then came out with five seconds remaining and cleared the cross bar with a 48-yard field goal to give the Irish a 10-7 lead at the halftime break. 

Notre Dame received the second half kickoff but a short run and two incomplete passes led to another punt. NC State matched with a punt of its own, helped along by a pass break up by Christian Gray on third down. 

The Irish scored on their next possession in an unusual way. Taking over at their own 10, Notre Dame faced third-and-12 before a false start forced them to a third-and-17. Faison caught a pass over the middle, made a defender miss but came up two yards short of the first down. 

Notre Dame came out in punt formation and shifted into a different formation with Tyler Buchner taking a direct snap. The Irish had tried to run this play earlier in the game but NC State called a timeout. This time, Buchner powered forward for three yards and a first down. 

Carr then found KK Smith for 12 yards and another first down. The next play Carr moved out of the pocket and threw to Raridon down field who was tackled before the ball arrived for an obvious pass interference call. The ball was now at the NC State 34-yard line, the Irish looked to Price on four straight rushes for 16 yards. Carr dropped back and found Smith on the post route wide open for an 18-yard touchdown – the junior wide receiver’s first touchdown of his career. 

NC State’s next possession was almost single-handedly stopped by senior defensive end Junior Tuihalamaka. The Wolfpack tried a throw back to the quarterback that Tuihalamaka read perfectly and tackled Bailey for a loss of four yards. 

On the second down play, Tuihalamaka beat his offensive lineman and forced Bailey out of the pocket and drew a holding call. Notre Dame declined the penalty since the ball was incomplete and on 3rd-and-14 Adon Shuler tracked down a scrambling Bailey short of the first down to force a punt. 

Momentum fully in hand the Irish took little time to go up by 17 points. Love broke loose for a 24-yard run to surpass 2,000 rushing yards in his career and become the fastest Irish running back to reach that milestone since Josh Adams reached it with 313 carries. Love ended up at 329 carries to reach 2,000 yards. 

Carr followed up with a bullet of a pass on an out-route to Smith for 31 yards. Love then burst up the middle for 13 yards to set up a 12-yard scoring strike from Carr to Pauling from 12 yards out. 

Notre Dame’s defense sensed blood in the water and started to pressure the quarterback and force turnovers. Traore marched the left tackle back into the quarterback for his second sack of the game. On third and long, Bowen scored a huge clean hit on a receiver over the middle to bring up 4th-and-11. More pressure on the quarterback forced an errant throw picked off by Adon Shuler and returned 44 yards to the NC State 17. 

Notre Dame’s offense could not move the ball from there, however, and Burnette came on to kick his second field goal of the game from 34 yards away and the Irish led 27-7. 

The defensive pressure continued on the next Wolfpack possession. Pursued by the entire Notre Dame defensive line Bailey uncorked another bad pass, this time intercepted by Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa at the 34-yard line and he returned it to the 19. 

Notre Dame’s red zone frustrations continued as Price fumbled the ball at the two-yard line. While the fumble was costly, it did pin NC State deep in its own territory and set up a safety. Bailey fumbled the snap and recovered it in the end zone to give Notre Dame two more points and a 29-7 lead. 

The Irish were not done scoring after the safety kickoff. Two passes to Faison put the Irish across the 50-yard line, then Carr found Raridon on a flag pattern for 36 yards at the NC State four-yard line. Love powered in one play later for his second touchdown of the game. 

The Wolfpack would try to add points on their final drive of the game but the Irish defense held yet again. Karson Hobbs picked off a desperation pass in the red zone and Notre Dame shifted to victory formation to seal the 36-7 victory.