As impossible as it seemed, Notre Dame’s defense neutralized the powerhouse that is North Carolina’s offense. There’s no other way to describe it when the Tar Heels only scored a field goal over the final three quarters. Now, the Irish have every serious challenge en route to the ACC championship game in the rear-view mirror. But for now, they’ll celebrate their 31-17 win.
Once again, we got a quarter featuring a punting battle between Jay Bramblett and Ben Kiernan. It took a while for the Irish (9-0, 8-0) to get any offense going, but they eventually did when Kyren Williams ran for 47 yards on the first play of their final possession. Ian Book kept giving it to Williams, and that persistence paid off when Williams took it into the end zone from 1 yard out. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels (6-3, 6-3) never got beyond the Irish’s 41-yard line the entire fourth quarter.
Give all of the credit in the world to Clark Lea for preparing his defense for a seemingly insurmountable task. After the first quarter, that unit made the Tar Heels look like a team still figuring things out. If fans didn’t know about that offense’s reputation going in, they never would have known what it’s done this season. That’s how good the 2020 Irish are.