Mini Movie: Reliving Notre Dame’s Statement Win Over No. 1 Miami

Notre Dame’s mini movie on the 31-24 win over No. 1 Miami is out, and it leans on Marcus Freeman’s voice as much as the highlights. Before the first top-five meeting between the programs since 1988, Freeman tried to shrink the night in the pregame team meeting: “Here’s the opportunity, man. Here’s the opportunity. Don’t make it bigger than it is, right?” The rest of his message centered on preparation. “I told you all week, the secret to passing this test is the most prepared team will win,” he told the team, before adding, “You all have prepared your ass off. Trust it.”

Freeman also said he had warned the team that a rough stretch was coming. “I said at some point in the game, there’s going to be a struggle. I don’t know when it’s going to be. But they battled through it and they executed when it mattered,” he says in the video. In the locker room afterward, he put it more simply: “Hey, I ain’t got to hear about ’88 no more.”

• CJ Carr threw three touchdown passes, the last a strike on second-and-13 that his receiver caught at the five and walked in.
• Jaiden Ausberry stopped Miami on third-and-goal from the two, the Hurricanes’ fifth snap inside the 5 on the drive: “What a stop. Jaiden Ausberry blows it up.”
• Luke Talich jumped a route at midfield for an interception, then broke up a throw into the end zone late: “And by inches, Notre Dame will get the stop. What a play by Talich.”
• Jordan Faison’s 56-yard return opened the second half, and Nolan James Jr. ran in his ninth touchdown of the season.