ACC Football – Notre Dame Crush NC State, 36-7

Irish crush Wolfpack 

C.J. Carr passed for 342 yards and two touchdowns and No. 16 Notre Dame beat N.C. State 36-7 on Saturday for its fourth straight victory on Saturday in South Bend. 

Carr connected on 19 of 31 passes. Running back Jeremiyah Love rushed for 86 yards and two touchdowns for Notre Dame (4-2).

Notre Dame led 10-7 at halftime. The Fighting Irish outscored the Wolfpack 26-0 in the second half.

“We just want to win,” Carr said. “That’s the result we want, whether it’s (Love and Price) carrying the ball, and there are times they’re going to have six touchdowns each, or we’re going to spread the field out and throw it all over the yard.”

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said that his team did not play its best game.

“My message was stop beating Notre Dame,” Freeman said of what he told his team after they only held a three-point lead at halftime. “That was the message. …. It’s easy for me to say don’t beat Notre Dame, but we have to continue to train our minds to focus in the right way and go out and execute.”

For NC State, QB C.J. Bailey connected with Terrell Anderson on a 45-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter for the Wolfpack (4-3). 

Notre Dame came up with three interceptions and hit the Wolfpack for four sacks, five tackles for loss and a safety. N.C. State entered the game averaging 447.7 yards of total offense a game, but only managed 233 yards on Saturday.

N.C. State running back Hollywood  Smothers only gained 46 yards on 12 carries. He entered the game averaging 115.5 yards. N.C. State coach Dave Doeren said turnovers haunted the Wolfpack.

“C.J. (Bailey) was off,” Doeren said. “We had some chances for some good throws down the field and overthrew the ball. It happens at times. If you’re in a game where they’re going to overload the box and play man-to-man, you have to be able to throw to hose down-the-field routes.”

Notre Dame’s defense has only allowed three touchdowns in the last three quarters. The Fighting Irish have seven interceptions in the last two games compared to five picks in the first four.

“The defense played lights out the second half — really played lights out for the majority of the game,” Freeman said

Some trickery helped jump start the Notre Dame offense in the second half. Leading 10-7 early in the third quarter, Notre Dame lined up for a punt on a fourth-and-two at its 38.  Notre Dame took advantage to drive down and get first first score of the second half, the TD pass from Carr to Smith. 

Takeaways:

Notre Dame’s fourth consecutive victory should help the No. 16 Fighting Irish continue to inch their way up the rankings.

N.C. State has lost three of its last four. A 56-10 victory over Campbell is the bright spot for the Wolfpack in the past month.

Up next

N.C. State: At Pittsburgh on Oct. 25.

Notre Dame: Hosts Southern California next Saturday.