CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Notre Dame spent the first month of the season largely showcasing its new-look offense built around star quarterback CJ Carr. But with rain pelting Kenan Stadium on Saturday and the ball slick, coach Marcus Freeman secured a 37-26 win over North Carolina the old-fashioned way -- with a heavy dose of the ground game.
After UNC erased a big Notre Dame lead, the Irish delivered a game-defining 17-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that ate 9:10 off the clock and featured 13 runs -- the bulk straight between the tackles.
"The ability to get movement at the point of attack was huge," Freeman said. "Backs were patient and trusted it. We were really in rhythm -- being able to run the ball when they knew we were going to run the ball."
Last year's top two runners, Jadarian Price and Jeremiyah Love, both ended up selected in the first round of April's NFL draft, leaving some questions as to who would carry the load for the Irish in 2026. Four early-season wins didn't offer firm answers. Notre Dame was held to less than 4 yards per carry in each of its first three, and it had largely operated with a backfield-by-committee approach.
On Saturday, that changed.
The Irish dominated the third quarter, holding the ball for 13:18 and outgaining UNC 137 to -3, with 122 of those yards coming on the ground. By the time Carr scampered into the end zone on a fourth-down try early in the fourth quarter, Notre Dame had turned a 21-20 lead into a 34-20 ballgame.
"That first drive of the third quarter, it was tough to throw the ball," Carr said. "So it was super impressive with the way the offensive line just drove the ball down the field. They couldn't really stop us, and it felt like we were imposing our will on them whenever we wanted."
Notre Dame moved to 5-0 with the win, but more than that, it might have offered an emphatic answer to the biggest critique still dogging its offense.
Carr, however, said he was never concerned about Notre Dame's ground game, and Saturday's effort was simply a chance to show the outside world what the Irish already believed they were capable of doing.
"We know what we have in those front five offensive linemen," said Carr, who threw four touchdown passes in the win. "It's explosive. And what we have in our backfield -- that's an outside perspective. We know we can run the ball when we want to, and I thought we showed that really well."
