They waited too long.
Too long to show some fight. Too long to show some urgency. Too long to play with an edge that had carried them for so long and for so far last season.
Fifth-ranked Notre Dame football waited too long to look like the high number next to its name Sunday night against No. 10 Miami (Fla.) and it cost the Irish.
Cost them a comeback win.
Cost them a statement win.
Cost them.
Instead of celebrating an improbable comeback from two scores down deep in the second half, Notre Dame was left to pick up the pieces following a 47-yard field goal from Carter Davis with 68 seconds remaining at Hard Rock Stadium gave Miami (Fla.) a 27-24 win.
Just when it looked like this one was headed toward a certain lopsided loss, back came the Irish. Back from somewhere. Back with something they hadn’t shown all night. When redshirt freshman quarterback C.J. Carr scrambled into the end zone and scored with 3:21 remaining, it tied the game at 24 and erased what had been a two-touchdown deficit by the Irish.
The first start for Carr looked at times like one. Other times, it looked like his 21st. He was shaky at times, solid at others, particularly in the fourth quarter when the Irish absolutely had to have it.
More Miami magic from Notre Dame? It looked like it. It felt headed that way. The Irish did it the last time they played on that Hard Rock Stadium field back in January in the College Football Playoff national semifinal against Penn State. They nearly did it again Sunday.
Notre Dame made it interesting with Carr doing his best Riley Leonard imitation. Carr did it with his right arm, sure, but he also did it with his legs. Quarterback runs. Dives into the end zone. Grinding out tough yards. Somewhere back in Indiana, Leonard, an Indianapolis Colts rookie, had to have been smiling.
What was it about Carr, offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock was asked the previous week, that gave him confidence? That he would keep coming, keep competing. Carr did both on Sunday when the odds seemed stacked against the Irish.
Sunday marked the first time Notre Dame lost its season opener since 2022, that one at Ohio State. The Irish looked over their heads that night in Columbus and looked more of the same Sunday. They often struggled to stay afloat in the deep end. Until it mattered.
This wasn’t about 1977, the last time Notre Dame beat Miami in South Florida. This wasn’t about 1985 and how the Hurricanes ran it up on the hapless Irish. This wasn’t about 1988 and Pat Terrell knocking away a potential game-winning two-point conversion in October on the way to the school’s national championship. It wasn’t about the vitriol of 1989 that forced the end of the series. It wasn’t about 2017 and the Irish no-show at Hard Rock.
This was about piggybacking last season’s 14-2 record and national championship game appearance and going deeper this season. Sunday night was supposed to be about this season and everything that the next few months might be. For the Irish. For Carr. For Marcus Freeman.
It may have been different had Notre Dame packed more of a punch and brought more of a fight to South Florida, especially in the first half. The Irish were too passive. The Irish weren’t aggressive enough. They weren’t aggressive much at all.
Instead of taking this one, the Irish eased into it, a big moment that Notre Dame needed to meet but didn’t. Where exactly was that fight in those Irish? Back in South Bend? On the bus? South Beach? Wherever it was, it wasn’t where it was needed.
Miami’s touchdown just before halftime underscored that. It was an amazing one-handed catch by C.J. Daniels that made it 14-7. Watch the replay again. Watch Irish safety Adon Shuler. Watch what the junior does – or doesn’t do. Carson Beck’s back-foot pass is hanging there waiting and wanting someone to go and get it. Shuler must go and get it.
Shuler didn’t; Daniels did. Touchdown. Plays like that must be made by that defense.
This game wasn’t even a quarter in, and the Irish defense already looked like it was running on fumes after being on the field for 20 plays that chewed up nearly 10 minutes. That’s a lot of snaps. A lot of tackles. A lot of high leverage situations. Too many on all levels. That had to change. Fast.
Win or lose, play well or struggle, Notre Dame gets the next week off from game action. Good time to get back in the lab, watch the film once, twice, three times and see what worked, see what didn’t and keep moving forward through what is expected to be a long season.
For the right reasons.
A long night in soupy/rainy South Florida doesn’t change that. Yet.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: What was that Sunday night for No. 5 Notre Dame football in steamy South Florida?
Reporting by Tom Noie, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
