By the Numbers: Notre Dame Football Builds a Big Lead, Then Holds On Against Miami

Notre Dame needed a night like this. Three weeks after the loss in Provo, the Irish beat the No. 1 team in the country, 31-24, in a sold-out Notre Dame Stadium on the same day College GameDay was in town. It’s the program’s 10th win over an AP No. 1, and the first since Clemson came to South Bend on this same date in 2020.

For a half, it looked like it might be a rout. CJ Carr was sharp from his first throw, and Micah Gilbert kept finding open grass. Miami came in having scored in the first quarter of every game this season and went to the locker room with a field goal, and it only got that much after the Irish stuffed three straight runs from the 1.

Then it got uncomfortable. Up 24-3 early in the third quarter, the offense went quiet, the defense started drawing flags and Miami climbed back into a game that should have been out of reach. It took a fourth-down stop at the 18 in the final four minutes to finish it. A win over the top-ranked team in the country is one the Irish will take any way it comes. The second half still deserves a hard look.

Here’s how the numbers tell the story of Notre Dame’s eighth win of 2026.

Key Stats

10 – Notre Dame’s all-time wins over AP No. 1 teams. That’s second nationally, behind Alabama’s 11 and one more than Miami’s nine.

319 – Carr’s passing yards. He hadn’t topped 300 in any of the first eight games, and it’s only the third time he’s done it in his career. His 29 completions are a career high, and he threw three touchdowns with no interceptions.

10-of-13 for 126 – Carr in the second quarter. Both of his first-half touchdown passes came in that quarter, a 27-yarder to Jordan Faison and an 18-yarder to Gilbert with 29 seconds left that capped an 81-yard drive in 1:39.

9 for 98 – Gilbert’s receiving line, with career highs in catches and touchdowns. His second score, from 20 yards out early in the third quarter, made it 24-3.

3 and 145 – Miami’s first-half points and yards. The Hurricanes’ five possessions before the break ended in four punts and a field goal.

0 – Yards Miami gained on three snaps from the Notre Dame 1 in the second quarter. Miami got a fresh set of downs at the 1 after Irish holding calls on third down at the 20 and the 2, and they settled for a 19-yard field goal at the end of a 14-play, 83-yard, 7:33 drive.

56 – Faison’s punt return early in the third quarter, the longest of his career. It put the ball at the Miami 30, and Gilbert scored three plays later.

17:12 – Game clock it took Miami to go from down 24-3 to down 31-24. Three of the Hurricanes’ four possessions in that stretch ended in the end zone.

2 – Three-and-outs for Notre Dame immediately after taking the 24-3 lead. The Irish gained 11 yards on those six snaps. The first punt traveled 25 yards to the Miami 48, and the Hurricanes scored six plays later.

36 – Nolan James Jr.’s catch on fourth-and-2 from the Miami 43 early in the fourth quarter, the longest reception of his career. It set up his one-yard touchdown run that made it 31-17.

7 – Points off turnovers. Luke Talich’s interception at the Irish 49 late in the third quarter started that drive.

4th-and-6 – Miami’s last real chance. With Notre Dame up seven and 3:43 left, Darian Mensah’s throw to Elija Lofton at the goal line fell incomplete with Talich in coverage, and the call held up on review.

6 – Consecutive James runs on Notre Dame’s next possession. They picked up one first down, forced Miami to use its last two timeouts and moved the Hurricanes back to their own 13 after a 50-yard Jasper Scaife punt with 1:02 left.

2 – Notre Dame sacks, after one in the previous three games combined. Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa had one for 11 yards on third down to open the second half, and Bryce Young and Boubacar Traore shared one on Miami’s final drive.

Milestones, Firsts, and Career Highs

The win was Notre Dame’s first over an AP No. 1 team since the 47-40 double-overtime game against Clemson on Nov. 7, 2020. Notre Dame has a 16-4-1 record in games played on Nov. 7, and nine of those wins came at home against two losses.

Carr’s three touchdown passes give him 45 for his career. It’s his seventh game this season with two or more scoring throws and the third with at least two in the first half. Through nine games he’s 177-of-262 for 2,168 yards with 21 touchdowns and one interception.

James has scored in all nine games this season.

Faison caught a pass on the game’s first snap, his 30th straight game with a reception. [CHECK: the notes call this second since 1998 behind T.J. Jones’ 32, but the Rice, BYU and Navy notes credited Jones with a program-record 40] He has 1,892 career receiving yards and 142 catches.

Talich’s interception was his third of the season, most on the team. He also forced a fumble on a Lofton catch in the third quarter, though Miami recovered. The pick was the seventh of his career, which would tie Leonard Moore for the most among active Irish players. [CHECK: career count is derived from the UNC notes plus this week’s book]

Freeman is 15-2 in November for his career and has won 12 straight November games since a loss at Clemson on Nov. 4, 2023. He’s 8-0 in November at Notre Dame Stadium.

Freeman is 23-4 against current ACC teams, and each of his teams has beaten six ACC opponents.

Firsts on the day:

Tionne Gray – pass breakup, on a second-quarter third down

Career highs

• CJ Carr with 29 completions.
• Micah Gilbert with nine receptions and two touchdowns.
• Jordan Faison with a 56-yard punt return.
• Nolan James Jr. with a 36-yard reception.
• Jonaz Walton with three receptions.

Positive Trends

The first-half defense was as good as it has been all season against the best offense it has seen. Miami averaged 5.4 yards per play for the game but managed 145 yards on 29 snaps before halftime, and Notre Dame stopped three straight runs from the 1 on the field-goal drive.

The passing game carried the offense. Carr completed 72.5 percent of his throws and averaged 8.0 yards per attempt, and he spread 29 completions across 10 receivers.

The Irish were perfect in the red zone. All three trips inside the Miami 20 ended in touchdowns.

Notre Dame converted both of its fourth-down tries, a James run on the opening drive and the 36-yard catch in the fourth quarter.

The pass rush finally showed up. Two sacks, five tackles for loss and four quarterback hurries, with Viliamu-Asa credited with two of those tackles for loss.

The game ended on a takeaway. On the last snap, Moore knocked the ball loose after a Cooper Barkate catch and Jaiden Ausberry recovered it.

Negative Trends

A 21-point lead got away. After Gilbert made it 24-3, Notre Dame was outscored 21-7 the rest of the way and needed a fourth-down stop to finish it.

The third quarter offense stalled. Notre Dame ran 11 plays for 50 yards in the period, and its three rushes went for minus-1. The Irish were 0-for-2 on third down in the quarter and 2-of-8 in the second half.

The run game didn’t produce. Notre Dame ran 29 times for 93 yards, 3.2 per carry, and James had 52 yards on his 16 attempts.

Defensive penalties kept Miami drives alive. Jayden Sanders was called for holding twice and Jaylen Sneed once, all three on third down, and each gave the Hurricanes a first down. Mark Zackery IV’s pass interference flag moved the ball from the 23 to the 8 on Miami’s final touchdown drive. The Irish were penalized seven times for 56 yards overall.

Miami’s top two targets did damage. Lofton had seven catches for 113 yards, including a 31-yarder on fourth-and-1 and a 41-yarder on Miami’s last real drive, and Barkate caught 10 balls for 92 yards and two touchdowns.

Spencer Porath missed a 53-yard field goal with 5:49 left that would have made it a 10-point game.

Miami became the third straight opponent to reach 100 rushing yards, finishing with 101 on 28 carries.

Scaife averaged 40.6 yards on five punts, and the 25-yarder in the third quarter handed Miami its shortest field of the night.

Team Notes

Adon Shuler, Drayk Bowen, Faison and Carr handled the coin toss. The Hurricanes won it and deferred, so the Irish received to start the game and defended the north end zone.

The 77,622 in attendance made it 24 consecutive sellouts at Notre Dame Stadium, and Freeman has coached in front of a full house in 29 of his 31 home games.

This was the 29th Notre Dame-Miami game, and the Irish own a 19-9-1 edge. They’re 10-1 against the Hurricanes in South Bend, with four straight home wins in the series dating to the 31-30 game in 1988.

ESPN’s College GameDay was in South Bend for the 13th time. Notre Dame is 8-5 in home games the show has visited. Its first trip to campus was Nov. 13, 1993, the morning of a 31-24 Irish win over Florida State.

Notre Dame is 538-133-13 all-time at home.

Miami fell to 8-1.

Kickoff came under clear skies at 40 degrees, with a light southwest wind.

Final Word

For a half, this was the most complete Notre Dame performance of the season against the best opponent on the schedule. Miami came in as the nation’s top-ranked team and left halftime with 145 yards and a field goal, and that field goal came only after the Irish stopped three straight runs from the 1. Carr was in total control of the passing game, and the 81-yard drive in the last two minutes of the half was the cleanest possession of the night.

The 17 minutes after the 24-3 lead are the part that needs attention. Two three-and-outs, a 25-yard punt, a third-down holding call and a pass interference flag at the 8 turned a blowout into a one-score game. Against a team as good as Miami, those mistakes nearly cost Notre Dame a win it had in hand.

The finish answered that. The defense got the fourth-down stop at the 18, James ran six times in a row to drain the clock and Miami’s timeouts, and the final Miami snap ended in a fumble. Boston College visits next Saturday.