Irish Bowl Over Rice, 52-0

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame football team (2-0) scored quickly and never looked back in a 52-0 victory over Rice (1-1) in sold-out Notre Dame Stadium Saturday on a sunny and warm afternoon. 

Adon Shuler set the tone as the team captain is known to do, streaking in from his safety spot on the second play of the game to force a fumble. Boubacar Traore picked the ball up, returned it for a touchdown and the rout was on 14 seconds into the game. 

Notre Dame would outgain the Owls 478-128 in total yards and hold them to just two of 12 on third down.

CJ Carr played the first half and one series in the second, completing 16-of-20 passes for 253 yards and four touchdowns. Two of those tosses ended up in the hands of Jordan Faison who finished with four total catches and 54 yards. 

The defensive effort was a full team effort, as Notre Dame forced Rice into five fumbles and recovered four of them. Jaiden Ausberry and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa led the team with five tackles each.

The shutout victory is the second of the Marcus Freeman era at Notre Dame and the most lopsided, surpassing the 44-0 win over Boston College in 2022. 

It took just 14 seconds.

Rice received the opening kickoff and started from its own 25. Quarterback Jacurri Brown's first-down pass fell incomplete. On second down, running back Davis Lane Jr. took a handoff to the right and was hit immediately by Shuler and Traore scooped it up at the Rice 24-yard line and returned it untouched for a touchdown. Spencer Porath's extra point made it 7-0 before the game was a minute old.

It was the second career defensive touchdown for Traore, who returned an interception 34 yards for a score against Purdue in 2024.

On the next Rice possession Brown picked up four yards on a keeper and then broke loose for 11 on second down but Luke Talich forced another fumble at the Rice 40. Brown recovered his own fumble, but a pattern for the game was set. On third-and-eight Rice fumbled again and this time it was recovered by Notre Dame's Jaiden Ausberry at the Rice 38.

The Irish offense took over and needed just four plays. Aneyas Williams rushed for seven, CJ Carr hit Jaden Greathouse for six on a first-down conversion, and Carr found Jordan Faison from 25 yards out for the touchdown. The Irish were up 14-0 and just 4:30 of game time had elapsed. 

 

Notre Dame's defense forced another punt on the next Rice drive, aided by a chop block penalty that backed the Owls up to their own 14. Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, in his first action of the season, pushed Rice back even further with a seven-yard tackle for loss. 

Carr and the offense went back to work. An eight-yard pass to Micah Gilbert and a 23-yard strike to Greathouse moved the chains into Rice territory. Carr hit Faison for nine on third-and-six then finished the drive with an 11-yard touchdown to Faison — his second scoring catch of the quarter. 

Carr opened the game six-for-six before his first incompletion which is the best start to a game of his career (previous best: five-for-five, twice in 2025). The two touchdowns extended his streak to 14 consecutive games with a touchdown pass, tied for the third-longest active streak in the FBS entering this weekend’s action behind Darian Mensah (19) and Julian Sayin (15).

The Irish picked up in the second quarter where they left off. On first down from the Notre Dame 47, Carr hit Greathouse for 19 yards, then found Matt Jeffery for 18 yards to the Rice 16. After an incompletion, Nolan James Jr. burst through the middle for 15 yards to the one-yard line. James punched it in on the next play for his first career rushing touchdown.

Rice's next drive ended in familiar fashion for the visiting Owls. Brown scrambled for 10 on a third-and-7 conversion, but a false start and a run-heavy approach couldn't sustain the drive. On third-and-11 from the Rice 12, Brown was stripped on a keeper and Viliamu-Asa recovered the fumble at the Rice six-yard line.

Two plays later, James scored again from a yard out for his second rushing touchdown of the game and first career multi-touchdown performance. 

After a Rice punt, Carr opened a drive with a 20-yard completion to Mylan Graham and later hit Faison for nine yards on a third-down conversion. A personal foul on Jack Larsen wiped out a 12-yard Williams run and stalled the drive, forcing a punt.

Rice went nowhere on its next drive. Faison returned the punt 37 yards to the Rice 38. Two plays later, Carr rolled to his right after great protection and chucked it to Micah Gilbert running across the end zone for a 39-yard touchdown.

Carr finished the half 12-of-16 for 191 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Faison had four catches for 54 yards and two touchdowns to earn his first career multi-touchdown game. 

Notre Dame received the second-half kickoff and went right back to work. Carr hit Jerome Bettis Jr. for five to set up third-and-three. Williams converted with a six-yard run up the middle. On the next play, Carr went deep left and found Bettis.  The sophomore receiver hauled it in at the Rice 33 and rumbled down to the six-yard line for a 56-yard gain for the longest play of the game and a career long catch for Bettis. A pass interference penalty on Rice's Koa Akui moved the ball to the two and Carr found Cooper Flanagan in the end zone for a two-yard touchdown and his career-high matching fourth scoring toss. 

The Irish were up 49-0 with 11:41 remaining. Notre Dame would tack on three points with a Spencer Porath 36-yard field goal with 4:21 left in the third quarter. 

Notre Dame's reserves took over from there. Backup quarterback Noah Grubbs completed seven-of-10 passes for 73 yards, connecting with Elijah Burress three times for 33 yards and twice finding Logan Saldate. The defense continued to suffocate Rice, which managed just one sustained drive past midfield in the second half. That drive ended with a fumble at the Notre Dame 16 forced by Kahanu Kia and recovered by Rodney Dunham.

Third-string quarterback Teddy Jarrard completed both of his pass attempts in the final minutes, including a 20-yard strike to Devin Fitzgerald.