3 reasons Notre Dame football beat North Carolina, 33-10
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Notre Dame didn’t have Brandon Wimbush, and that was OK. With its starting quarterback rehabbing his right foot and wearing a headset on the sideline, Notre Dame was still able to beat North Carolina 33-10 on Saturday.
Redshirt freshman backup Ian Book exuded confidence, even when he was off target, made a bad decision or turned the ball over. Josh Adams ran for 100 yards by halftime. And the defense limited North Carolina’s offense, which has been averaging nearly 400 yards per game, to almost half that at 265 yards.
Here’s a deeper look into why the Irish won:
1. As always, Josh Adams
Notre Dame’s No. 1 back set the tone early, like he's done in every Irish win this season. Adams rushed for 118 yards a touchdown on 13 carries. He broke the game open when he bolted for a 73-yard touchdown early in the second quarter to give the Irish a 14-0 lead just as it started pouring rain. With his statistics Saturday, he’s Notre Dame's No. 7 all-time leading rusher.
Through six games, Adams now has six rushing plays of 50 yards or more. Though he’s yet to receive national recognition or Heisman Trophy hype, only Stanford’s Bryce Love has more explosive plays with seven. His performance against the Tar Heels was also the fourth time in six games he rushed for 100 yards before halftime.
Adams, who has battled a bit of a gimpy ankle this season, said earlier this week he was fine. When asked the status of his health on Wednesday, he only cited seasonal allergies. Adams had two carries for 10 yards in the third quarter, then sat out the rest of the half. Notre Dame didn’t need him though, as it extended its lead running the ball with Tony Jones Jr. and Deon McIntosh, who added a solid 124 yards on 12 carries and two touchdowns. The redshirt freshman has now scored in Notre Dame’s last three games.
2. Ian Book managed the game in Wimbush’s absence
In his first start for Notre Dame, Book went 17-of-31 for 146 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. It’s the most passing attempts since Wimbush threw 40 times against Georgia.
Book was preparing to play all week with Wimbush rehabbing a right foot injury he banged up during last week’s 52-17 win over Miami (Ohio). Book took the majority of practice reps this week and his teammates were confident in his ability to run the offense heading into the weekend.
Things got off to a slow start, with Notre Dame punting on Book’s first two drives, and turning it over on downs on the third. He eventually settled down and led Notre Dame on a 15-play, 80-yard scoring drive — in which the Irish converted three third downs and one on fourth down — to give Notre Dame a 7-0 lead to begin the second quarter. On the first play of the quarter, Book found Cam Smith for an easy 6-yard touchdown pass.
He had a couple wild plays — two resulted in interceptions, one of which was in the red zone, ending Notre Dame’s perfect conversion rate inside the 20. Other than that, he managed the game in Wimbush’s absence, connecting with eight different receivers and adding 45 rushing yards himself.
3. Another strong defensive performance
On the first play of the second half, Julian Okwara batted down quarterback Chazz Surratt’s pass, grabbed the interception and returned it 5 yards to the UNC 31-yard line. Notre Dame scored 29-yard field goal on its next drive and has now scored 73 points off turnovers this season (10 touchdowns and one field goal).
Mike Elko’s defense held North Carolina to 265 yards on 70 plays and forced three turnovers. In the first quarter, North Carolina had 7 total yards on nine plays and didn’t get its first first down until there was 8:25 left in the second quarter. The Tar Heels had been averaging nearly 400 yards of offense per game.
Only 10 of UNC’s 15 drives saw more than three snaps and the Irish forced the Tar Heels to punt nine times.
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North Carolina had a few promising drives, but one time Khalid Kareem recovered a Surratt self-inflicted fumble, another time Jalen Elliott broke up a pass on third-and-7, and Shaun Crawford broke up a pass in the end zone to force a field goal.
The unit also tallied two sacks and 28 seconds before halftime, UNC running back Jordan Brown took a handoff in the backfield and was stuffed for a safety by Jay Hayes and Jerry Tillery to give the Irish a 16-7 lead.
Follow IndyStar Notre Dame Insider Laken Litman on Twitter and Instagram: @lakenlitman.