•Take a bow, Clark Lea. Notre Dame got socked early on and never flinched. North Carolina hung 14 points and 8.9 yards per play on Lea’s defense on its first two drives. In the second half, the Tar Heels ran 25 plays and gained 58 yards. That’s 2.3 yards per play.
•Join Lea, Marist Liufau. Brian Kelly said earlier in November the buck linebacker job wasn’t totally settled despite some strong recent play from starter Shayne Simon. Liufau, a sophomore, came into the game on Notre Dame’s third defensive series and stayed there. He was at his best on blitzes. The half-sack he was credited with doesn’t illustrate how disruptive he was as a rusher. He ended with five tackles.
•If you want one area to point to on defense, the linebackers were aggressive coming downhill and got home on blitzes. Liufau, mike linebacker Drew White, rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and nickel linebacker Bo Bauer combined for 21 tackles, 1.0 sacks, one pass breakup and 2.5 tackles for loss. They were in passing lanes, in the proper gaps and causing problems on interior rushes. North Carolina’s normally lethal run-pass options aren’t shut down without them.
•Notre Dame’s offensive line was up and down early on with new starters at center (sophomore Zeke Correll) and right guard (senior Josh Lugg). The run-blocking was effective. Correll had a key second-level block on freshman Chris Tyree’s 16-yard run in the first half. Lugg was effective as a puller.
•Pass protection was a bit bumpier. In the first half, Lugg allowed a pressure that led to Book needing to check down to Kyren Williams on a third down. The result was a punt. Correll had two bad snaps.
•What mattered in the end: Notre Dame did what it usually did. Control the clock. Run the ball well. Its game-sealing drive took 4:32 off the clock, and the Irish held the ball for just over 35 minutes. Take out sacks, and they ran for 214 yards on 34 carries. The 25 second-half plays North Carolina ran is a testament to the offense as much as the defense.
