Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1424555
22 NOV. 6, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED terback, but he sure made himself look good on a 21-yard rushing touchdown that put Notre Dame ahead 24-20 with 12:23 left in the third quarter. Fea t u re Pe r fo r m e r : Fre s h m a n wide receiver Lorenzo Styles Jr. had two catches for 65 yards in the quar- ter. One reception went for 40 yards. Coan scored on the next play. The other catch went for 25 yards, and Notre Dame scored a touchdown later in that drive. Stats: North Carolina outgained Notre Dame 169-162. The Irish had the slimmest of advantages in yards per play at 9.5 to 9.4. North Carolina ran the ball at 10.9 yards per carry, while the Irish ran it at a still highly impressive 8.0 yards per rush. Items: The Notre Dame defense allowed a 53-yard rushing touchdown early in the quarter … North Caro- lina came up a yard short on a critical third-down play. The call was reversed, and the Tar Heels ended up punting … Freshman running back Logan Diggs scored his first career touchdown on a one-yard dive over a mass of bodies at the line of scrimmage. FOURTH QUARTER NOTRE DAME 44, NORTH CAROLINA 34 Top Moment: Williams' touch- down run. Teammate DJ Brown said he had never seen anything like it. Kelly said was in awe, too. Who wasn't? The ever-elusive Williams turned what should have been a play resulting in no gain into a 91-yard touchdown. Not many running backs in the country, if any, could have done the same in that situation. Feature Performer: They were both chip shots, but Doerer made two field goals to keep Notre Dame out in front of a hard-charging Tar Heels who didn't give up on their upset bid until the bit- ter end. Stats: Notre Dame outgained North Carolina 164-156. The Irish piled up 146 rushing yards as they milked the clock to a third straight victory and their sev- enth of the season. Items: Brown recorded his second interception of the season on North Carolina's first play after the Williams touchdown … Graduate student line- backer Drew White notched his first sack of the season … Howell scored on a 31-yard rushing touchdown to keep North Carolina's hopes alive at 41-34 with half the quarter left … Sophomore vyper Jordan Botelho recorded his first career sack on North Carolina's last possession of the game … The Irish were 2 of 2 in red zone scoring. ✦ UNC UND FIRST QUARTER UND Davis 7-yard pass from Buchner (Doerer kick) 3:25 0 7 Drive: 7 plays, 41 yards, 3:19 SECOND QUARTER UNC Chandler 3-yard run (Atkins kick) 14:55 7 7 Drive: 8 plays, 81 yards, 3:23 UND Doerer 31-yard field goal 10:01 7 10 Drive: 13 plays, 62 yards, 4:54 UNC Atkins 38-yard field goal 3:22 10 10 Drive: 13 plays, 62 yards, 6:34 UND Austin 21-yard pass from Coan (Doerer kick) 1:23 10 17 Drive: 6 plays, 75 yards, 1:59 UNC Atkins 26-yard field goal 0:02 13 17 Drive: 7 plays, 51 yards, 1:13 THIRD QUARTER UNC Chandler 53-yard run (Atkins kick) 13:21 20 17 Drive: 5 plays, 79 yards, 1:33 UND Coan 21-yard run (Doerer kick) 12:23 20 24 Drive: 3 plays, 75 yards, 0:58 UND Diggs 1-yard run (Doerer kick) 4:56 20 31 Drive: 11 plays, 81 yards, 5:24 UNC Green 33-yard pass from Howell (Atkins kick) 2:48 27 31 Drive: 6 plays, 75 yards, 2:08 FOURTH QUARTER UND Williams 91-yard run (Doerer kick) 14:27 27 38 Drive: 1 play, 91 yards, 0:17 UND Doerer 20-yard field goal 11:52 27 41 Drive: 5 plays, 13 yards, 2:28 UNC Howell 31-yard run (Atkins kick) 7:23 34 41 Drive: 10 plays, 75 yards, 4:29 UND Doerer 21-yard field goal 1:37 34 44 Drive: 13 plays, 73 yards, 5:46 UNC UND Total First Downs 28 28 Rushing 14 14 Passing 13 10 Penalty 1 4 Rushing Attempts 40 42 Yards Gained Rushing 242 301 Yards Lost Rushing 19 8 Net Yards Rushing 223 293 Net Yards Passing 341 230 Passes Attempted 33 26 Passes Completed 24 18 Had Intercepted 1 0 Percent Completion 72.7% 69.2% Yards Per Attempt 10.3 8.8 Yards Per Completion 14.2 12.8 Total Offensive Plays 73 68 Total Net Yards 564 523 Average Gain Per Play 7.7 7.7 Fumbles: No.-Lost 0-0 0-0 Penalties: No.-Yards 9-75 5-40 Punts: No.-Yards 3-129 2-83 Average Per Punt 43.0 41.5 Average Net Punt 27.3 31.5 Punt Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 1-47 Kickoff Returns: No.-Yards 5-106 1-0 Interception Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 1-17 Fumble Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 0-0 Miscellaneous Yards 0 0 Possession Time 30:15 29:45 Third-Down Conversions 6-11 5-11 Percentage 54.5% 45.5% Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 Percentage 0.0% 0.0% Sacks By: No.-Yards 1-1 3-24 NOTRE DAME 44, NORTH CAROLINA 34 Oct. 30, 2021 ✦ Attendance: 71,018 Notre Dame Stadium ✦ South Bend 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final North Carolina 0 13 14 7 34 Notre Dame 7 10 14 13 44 The Fighting Irish defense had its hands full all night with North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell, who accounted for 442 yards of total offense and two touchdowns. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER