CJ Carr’s offensive firepower overcame Jaden Jefferson’s explosive special teams heroics.
Heisman hopeful CJ Carr did a stellar job leading No. 3 Notre Dame to a 37-26 victory against North Carolina.
Marcus Freeman knew Bill Belichick and Co. would put up a fight, and this is a game that saw the Fighting Irish lead by only seven points at halftime.
UNC jumped out to a 7-0 lead, only for Notre Dame to score 21 unanswered.
The Tar Heels weren't about to give up, though, and they scored 13 straight points themselves. Belichick's choice to go for two was denied, so UNC was down 21-20 just 14 seconds into the third quarter.
From there, Notre Dame missed a two-point conversions themselves, but they eventually led 37-20 with just seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, and that was enough to get the job done.
Jaden Jefferson is incredible
Sure, the Tar Heels may have lost by 11 points, but no one can take away Jefferson's 98-yard kick return touchdown to start the third quarter.
That was undoubtedly the biggest boost UNC could've asked for, but they weren't able to turn it into a 22-21 lead.
Fans will question the decision to go for two when they could've tied it up, but there was still so much time left in the game it truly wouldn't have mattered.
The true freshman did his part, and it'll be interesting to see if North Carolina tries to utilize the California native more moving forward.
Defense could only hang around for so long
To see UNC's defense compete as well as they did for as long as they did was impressive enough. Notre Dame, on paper, was always going to outmatch this unit on all three units.
Freeman's squad is ranked No. 3 for a reason, and it took them longer than expected to prove that, but in the end they pulled away for a comfortable two-score victory.
Derek McDonald led the way with 12 tackles for UNC, a team that didn't record a sack and only had two tackles for loss.
Billy Edwards Jr. is the clear QB1
Two interceptions aren't going to get the job done against the Fighting Irish, but the Wisconsin transfer still threw for 200+ yards and a trio of touchdowns against a top team in the nation.
With UNC's run game seemingly non-existent, that only put more pressure on Edwards Jr., which led to those interceptions.
Could this game have looked different without the turnovers? Absolutely, but one can only ask Edwards Jr. to do so much against Notre Dame.
