Notre Dame’s list of home wins over No.1 ranked teams heading into Saturday night’s showdown with top ranked Miami was short and sweet. The Fighting Irish topped Clemson in 2020, Florida State in 1993, Miami in 1988, and Northwestern in 1936. 

That was the list. 

Miami made the list again when the Irish took down the formerly unbeaten Hurricanes 31-24 on an electric Saturday night. Marcus Freeman now joins Brian Kelly, Lou Holtz and Elmer Layden as the only Irish coaches to pick up wins over top ranked teams. 

After the final second ticked off the clock and Irish linebacker Jaiden Ausberry recovered Miami’s fumble after a desperation lateral, students began trickling onto the Notre Dame Stadium turf and were soon joined en-masse until the stadium public address announcer declared that the field was at capacity long after Freeman’s victors had sang the alma mater. 

Freeman basked in the glow of the most significant regular season home win of his five year tenure afterward. 

“What a night,” Freeman said. “What a moment for this program, for this university, for so many people that love this place -- a special moment. It's hard to describe. You try to imagine what it will be. It's hard to describe. But you're grateful for the people that help your team get to that point and to find a way to get that victory, and you're grateful for all the support that you have, man. So proud of those guys, the way they battled.” 

Freeman’s teams lost their last three games against top 10 teams, including a road loss to the Hurricanes to open last season. A most recent setback to then No. 8 BYU meant a win over Miami was all but a certainty if the Irish were going to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive, Freeman’s team delivered Saturday. 

“This is as good of a win as I've ever been a part of, and as special of a moment, as special of an outcome that I've been a part of since I've been the head coach here,” said Freeman. “A lot has to do with these guys that are in this room.” 

Irish quarterback CJ Carr got a monkey off his back by delivering time and again in the seven-point win. Carr finished his night by going 29 of 40 for a season high 319 yards and three touchdown passes. 

The junior dropped a dime to Jordan Faison in the front corner of the end zone from 27 yards out for Notre Dame’s first touchdown of the night. Then he followed that with 18 and 20 yard strikes to Micah Gilbert, who led the Irish with 9 receptions for 98 yards. 

As he has done all year, the junior kept the offense in the right look and made all the right reads throughout the night in his first win over a top 10 opponent. He overcame back-to-back 3-and-out possessions in the third quarter to lead the offense to the end zone for Nolan James, Jr’s one-yard touchdown run, which would be the final points scored of the night. 

“It wasn't anything different than the previous weeks in the way he's prepared,” Freeman said of Carr’s night. “We always challenge each other; how do we continue to elevate the way we prepare? But our process is our process, right? How do we do it better? That's who CJ Carr is, man. He prepares -- I said this three years ago, the dude prepared like he was a starter. So, he's not going to do anything different this week because we're playing Miami. We've just got to continue to do what we do and do it better.” 

Freeman has always referred to his team’s identity as an “offensive and defensive line driven program”. That blueprint helped the Irish beat similarly minded teams like Georgia, Penn State and Indiana in the College Football Playoffs two years ago, but Miami rubbed it back in Notre Dame’s face by bullying the Irish lines on both side of the ball in last year’s game in Miami Gardens. 

The Fighting Irish showed up on both sides of the line at Notre Dame Stadium. The official stats show two sacks and four QB hurries by the Irish defense. PFF credited the ND defense with 28 total pressures. Meanwhile, Carr was not sacked for the seventh time in nine games this season after being sacked three times by the Hurricanes last year. 

“They played relentless, man,” Freeman said of his lines. “They did. It was going to be a challenge because that program we just faced, they pride themselves on the same thing and it was a challenge. It was a challenge to block them, especially their inside guys, and it was a challenge to get to that quarterback. I thought we got really good pressure, but to actually get him down was a challenge. I'm extremely proud of them guys, and we wouldn't be in this position without our O-line and D-line.” 

Miami was without slot receiver Malachi Toney Saturday after the Heisman candidate suffered an ankle injury in practice last week. Toney leads the Hurricanes with 73 receptions for 1,027 yards and 13 touchdowns. 

The assumption all week was that Irish All-American cornerback Leonard Moore would cover Toney throughout the game, but plans changed Wednesday night after the news broke that Toney would be out.  

“It was bits and pieces when you say, Leonard, you're going to travel with Malachi Toney, and at times you're going to play man and at times you're going to play zone,” Freeman explained. “Then you go through this phase of is it real or is it not (if Toney was actually out)? We don't want to get caught preparing for a guy that isn't going to be there and then he actually shows up. 

“As we got into the day, I thought they started executing extremely well to start the game,” Freeman continued. “It really started going down when Leonard went down. Leonard goes down with a -- he got poked in the eye, and they tried to attack us in man coverage. We were playing a lot of man coverage today. That was something we went into the game saying, we have to be able to do. Our guys want to do it. Let's do it. We got to the point where it's the definition of insanity. If we keep playing man coverage, this thing won't stop. So, we had to adjust at that point and start playing some zone and mix in some man. It was a pivot from what we had been planning for half of the week, but it was a pivot.” 

Hurricane tight end Elija Lofton was the main Miami benefactor of Toney’s absence. The junior had his first career 100-yard game with 7 receptions for 113 yards and a touchdown. Toney topped 100 receiving yards in five of eight previous games this season and Lofton’s night made him the only other Hurricane target to top 100 yards this year.