Notre Dame Rolls To Resounding Win Over Rice In Home Opener

Notre Dame, Ind. - This one was over quickly. Forget about the fact that Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was 1-3 in home openers prior to Saturday’s home opener against Rice. Forget about the fact that the fifth-year head coach was also 1-3 in game two of the season.  

Freeman’s Fighting Irish (2-0) left no doubt who they are in a 52-0 dismantling of the hapless Rice Owls (1-1) in Saturday’s home opener. A stifling Irish defense forced four turnovers and six punts. They were 2 of 12 on 3rd down and failed to cross midfield on their first 10 drives before finally reaching Irish territory down 52-0 in the fourth quarter.  

Meanwhile, Irish quarterback CJ Carr made light work of the Rice secondary by completing 16 of his 20 passes for 253 yards and four touchdowns. All four of Carr’s incompletions hit Irish receivers in the hands. Three were dropped and the fourth was punched away from Mylan Graham by a Rice defensive back.  

Sophomore quarterback Noah Grubbs made his collegiate debut in the third quarter and led the Irish to a 36-yard field goal from Spencer Porath. Grubbs completed his first career pass to Elijah Burress for a gain of 12 yards. He hit Burress for a 16-yard gain four plays later. Grubbs finished his debut 7 of 11 for 78 yards. 

Freshman QB Teddy Jararrd made his debut in the fourth quarter as well. After a pair of handoffs to Jonaz Walton, Jararrd connected with fellow freshman Devin Fitzgerald for a 20-yard gain on his first attempt. He was 2 of 2 for 29 yards on the game's final drive. 

Notre Dame scored on the second play of the game, but it wasn’t the Irish offense that found the end zone. Irish safety Adon Shuler blew up Rice slot back Davis Lane, dislodging the ball, which was scooped up by Boubacar Traore, who scooted an easy 24 yards just 14 seconds into the game.  

The Owls fumbled again on the fourth play of their second drive. Jaiden Ausberry recovered at the Rice 38 to set up ND’s first offensive possession. It took just three plays for Carr to throw his first touchdown of the day to a wide-open Jordan Faison in the end zone for a 25-yard score and a 14-0 lead.  

Carr and Faison connected again on an 11-yard screen pass on Notre Dame’s next drive. Faison made a pair of defenders miss on his way to the end zone to make it 21-0 with 3:51 still left in the first quarter.  

Carr completed all seven of his passes to four different receivers for 84 yards in the first quarter. Traore’s early scoop and score covered 24 yards, while Rice gained just 13 offensive yards in the quarter.  

After scoring his first career touchdown on a reception against Wisconsin in game one, Nolan James, Jr got the first TD run of his career from one yard out early in the second quarter. James set up the 1-yard run with a 15-yard run on the previous play.  

Notre Dame beat itself on its first bad possession of the day. Tight end Jack Larsen was flagged for face masking to put the Irish in a 1st and 25 situation. Aneyas Williams dropped a short pass on the next play and then a Rice DB punched a pass away from Graham, who started the drive with a 20-yard reception, for an incompletion on third down. Carr’s first four incompletions all hit Irish receivers in the hands.  

Rice fumbled for a third time after an Irish punt on a bad pitch by quarterback Jacurri Brown. Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa recovered at the Owl 6 and James scored again from one yard out to make it 35-0 with 4:26 left in the first half.  Viliamu-Asa was making his season debut after missing the opener against Wisconsin. He and Ausberry shared the team lead with five tackles each. 

A 37-yard punt return by Faison gave the Irish the ball at the Rice 38 with two minutes left in the half. After a short pass to James lost a yard, Carr found Micah Gilbert behind two defenders in the end zone for a 39-yard score and a 42-0 lead. 

Carr started the second half and led the Irish offense on a brisk 6-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, highlighted by a 56-yard reception by Jerome Bettis, Jr. Carr connected with Cooper Flanagan for a 2-yard touchdown for Carr’s fourth TD pass to a third different receiver on the day and a 49-0 lead.

A total of 12 different receivers caught passes in the lopsided win. Faison led the Irish with four receptions to go with 54 yards. Bettis' 61 yards led the team on his two catches. The only blip on the day was a light rushing total of 118 yards and 3.7 yards per carry. Williams had nine carries for 29 yards (2.9). Walton had a team high 48 yards on eight carries (6.0).