Notre Dame Outlasts North Carolina and a 98-yard Kick Return
Notre Dame led 21-7, then watched North Carolina cut it to 21-20 on a 98-yard kickoff return early in the third quarter. It held on anyway and won 37-26, moving to 5-0.
The early going belonged to C.J. Carr and his receivers. North Carolina scored first on a 6-yard pass from Billy Edwards Jr. to Shamar Easter, then Carr threw touchdowns to Jordan Faison (28 yards) and Jaden Greathouse (12) within 15 seconds of each other to make it 14-7. Faison added a 39-yarder to open the second quarter, and Jelani Thurman caught a 14-yarder with 21 seconds left in the half to make it 21-14.
Then came the swing. Jaden Jefferson returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown at 14:46 of the third quarter, and a failed two-point pass kept it at 21-20. Notre Dame answered with a Carr 3-yard run at 5:36 (two-point try failed, 27-20), a Nolan James Jr. touchdown catch at 14:54 of the fourth quarter and a Spencer Porath field goal for 37-20. That was 17 points in a row. Thurman's 10-yard score late, with the extra point blocked, only trimmed it to the final 37-26.
The ground game made the gap: Notre Dame ran 44 times for 242 yards and totaled 476 against North Carolina's 285, which came on 23 carries for 77 rushing yards. North Carolina also threw two interceptions, both from Edwards.
For fantasy purposes, Carr's four touchdown passes plus a rushing score and Faison's two touchdowns were the story. Edwards put up 27.6 points in defeat.