Perhaps Notre Dame and North Carolina needed some time to take it easy. Unlike in the first quarter, offense was hard to come by in the second. This time, we saw the defenses shine. Consequently, this game is tied at 17 at halftime.
The frame became a battle of whether Jay Bramblett or Ben Kiernan could punt the ball further. It really doesn’t matter who won that because it didn’t make a difference on the scoreboard. That this even was the story for most of the quarter shows how great the defenses were. We’ll find out in the second half if rumors of an offensive shootout were greatly exaggerated.
Sam Howell barely avoided giving up a safety when Isaiah Foskey sacked him at the North Carolina 1-yard line. That drive ended in a punt. Later, it was Marist Liufau’s turn to wrap up Howell deep in Tar Heels territory. This time, Howell recovered and picked up the first down on the drive, which was followed by a series of passes to set up a 42-yard field goal for Grayson Atkins.
The biggest play of that sequence is a third and 20 that Notre Dame bailed out North Carolina on when Kyle Hamilton’s targeting penalty both extended the Tar Heels drive and got the pre-season All-American ejected for the rest of the afternoon.
Related: Watch the play that got Kyle Hamilton ejected against North Carolina
With over a minute left in the quarter, Ian Book completed three consecutive passes to get into North Carolina territory and also got some help from a pass interference call. He took one unsuccessful shot at the end zone, and the clock dictated there only was enough time for Jonathan Doerer to tie the game with a field goal. He did just that from 32 yards out.