For the first time since the USC game in 2019 I was at a Notre Dame game and boy did it feel good. Game day in South Bend is something special, but toss in a primetime game under the lights and it is even better. Before the season started, this looked like one of the bigger games on Notre Dame’s schedule. After the first few weeks of the season, that was no longer the case after North Carolina stumbled out of the gate. With that said, the Tar Heels are still led by a QB who has a shot at playing on Sundays and he did not disappoint on Saturday night. Notre Dame got a taste of what life could be like if All-American Kyle Hamilton doesn’t return, and let’s just say it’s a bad taste. Even if the game wasn’t a top ten match-up like we all thought it might be, even without Hamilton the game still lived up to the hype.

The Notre Dame offense picked up where it left off vs USC. Things have changed drastically on the offensive side of the ball since the bye week and it has been fun to watch. For a group that would go three-and-out what felt like almost every chance with the ball, they now almost score at will. A QB rotation that never seemed to work at the right time, now seems to work without flaws. Even Jack Coan is running in touchdowns, as we saw in the 3rd quarter! Coan and Buckner looked good on Saturday night, and it was fun to see what the current offense looks like with the future QB getting some chances. The wide outs Kevin Austin, Avery Davis and freshman Lorenzo Styles had outstanding games. Davis and Austin both had touchdown catches, while Styles led the team in receiving yards with 74. The offense as a whole had a solid night, but the true leader of the offense and maybe the team had a game that won’t ever be forgotten. Kyren Williams had himself a hell of a night, and finished with 199 yards rushing and added another 15 receiving yards. What really made this game special was the the 91-yard touchdown run at the start of the 4th quarter. North Carolina looked like it had taken hold of the momentum in the game, with the score 31-27 ND and the Irish backed up to their own 9 yard line. Williams took the hand-off from Coan and went to the right side of the line only to get stopped, but at what looked like a sure loss, Williams flipped around and went left. An amazing stiff arm and two great blocks from Michael Mayer and Davis helped him run down the sidelines in front of North Carolina for an amazing 91-yard touchdown run that put the Irish up 38 -27. This Notre Dame team will go as far as Williams will go; on Saturday night, we saw that Williams is going to go far.

Game Ball: Kyren Williams – 214 total yards, 199 rushing and 1 TD

While the offense shined, the same cannot be said for the defense. Notre Dame was without its best player on both sides of the ball, Kyle Hamilton. This was the first full game without him and unfortunately, life on defense might not be great until he comes back, if he does at all. North Carolina is one of the better offenses that Notre Dame will see all year and they sure showed up. The Tar Heels put up 554 total yards, led by Howell with 341 in the air and another 91 on the ground. He looks like a faster Baker Mayfield. Howell may have fallen from being a Heisman hopeful, but he’ll still be playing on Sundays and it was great to see him in person. Yes, the secondary needs help without its leader; but Notre Dame still has a ton of playmakers up that can help weather the storm until Hamilton is back. Isaiah Foskey is worth the price of admission in my opinion. He is on pace to break Justin Tuck’s single season sack second of 13.5 (Foskey sits at 8.5). Notre Dame has 4 games left, with one of them against an offense as good as North Carolina – that’s Virginia in two weeks. If the defense can get healthy by then, they will not need the Irish offense to score 40+ in order to win like we saw on Saturday night.

We saw what a night game looks like last week vs USC, and it looked awesome on TV. Here to confirm it’s a whole lot cooler in person. I started going to Notre Dame games 2 renovations ago, well before the Jumbotron in the South end zone. I am far from a fan who wants to keep things the same, so I am all for what Notre Dame is doing with its night games. Turning off the lights before the players enter the stadium is cool enough, but the light show after the third quarter is outstanding. We see it all over college football and I love seeing it in South Bend. Notre Dame needs to keep winning like they do to keep landing the great recruits, but the stuff they are doing at night games sure doesn’t hurt.