Chad Davis drilled a 47-yard field goal with 1:04 remaining to give the Miami Hurricanes a 27-24 victory over Notre Dame. CJ Carr brought the visitors back from a 21-7 third quarter deficit to tie the game at 24 before the Canes won it. Miami’s dominance of the line of scrimmage, however, ultimately spelled the difference in this contest. The Canes played smart, error free football and executed winning drives at the end of each half. Notre Dame committed two turnovers and had multiple breakdowns on both sides of the ball.

Poor line play was the most obvious Irish weakness in this season opener. Offensively, Notre Dame failed to gain 100 yards. Pass protection also broke down several times due to poor technique and effort. Similar failures resulted in a pair of drive-killing intentional grounding penalties against Carr in the fourth quarter. They were not his fault.

The Canes’s massive offensive line continually mauled Notre Dame’s defensive front seven. They also built a protective wall around quarterback Carson Beck that the Irish struggled to penetrate. Beck picked apart the vaunted Irish secondary with 12 straight completions as the hosts built their lead.

One positive for the Irish is that Carr appears to be the player and leader the team needs moving forward. He played a strong first game despite one interception on a tipped pass that should not have been thrown. Carr showed poise and accuracy while tossing two touchdown passes and running for another score. He took several hard hits but was never rattled.

Beck hit freshman Malachi Toney with a 28-yard strike early in the second period to open the scoring. Minutes later, Carr brought Notre Dame back to tie the score. Jadarian Price broke off a 30-yard run to set up a Carr scramble that ended with a pass to Micah Gilbert in the end zone.

Miami took over with five minutes left in the half to retake the lead. They never faced a third down as Beck marched them into scoring territory. His 20-yard touchdown pass to CJ Daniels with 12 seconds remaining in the half was a crushing blow. Daniels made a stunning one-handed catch behind cornerback Leonard Moore and in front of safety Adon Shuler. When an opponent beats your best defensive players, you have to hand it to them. Moore was beaten on a double move. Shuler thought he had a sure interception at the goal line and failed to drive on the ball. Daniels plucked it out of the air and fell into the end zone.

Miami extended its lead to 21-7 with a dominant drive to open the third quarter. Marty Brown covered the last few yards as his mates powered him through the backpedaling Irish. Things looked bleak for Notre Dame before Carr led a comeback effort. He hit Malachi Fields for 27 yards and ran for 13 more to enter the red zone. His scoring pass to Jordan Faison cut the deficit to 21-14 as the game moved into the final period.

The Irish finally got to Beck and regained possession. Unfortunately, disaster struck. Carr rushed a pass to the flat that was tipped twice and intercepted. It was second down and two yards to go. Both the play call itself and Carr’s read were ill-advised. This turnover gifted the Canes with a field goal that they would cherish later.

Notre Dame moved to answer as Carr fired darts in an up-tempo drive. Once they reached scoring territory, whiffed attempts at pass blocking pressured Carr into an intentional grounding call. Noah Burnette came for a three pointer to make it 24-17 Canes. Only 5:32 remained on the clock.

The Irish defense stiffened once more to give the ball back to Carr. On the first play, he hit Eli Raridon for a 65-yard pass and run to the Miami 10. Carr then rumbled in on a quarterback draw to tie it at 24 with 3:21 left.

Miami did not panic, though. Beck took the reins as his line reestablished dominance over the Irish. A pass interference penalty and several tough runs brought the Canes into field goal range. Those runs also depleted Notre Dame’s three timeouts. Davis blasted the ball through the uprights to win it, although the Irish had 64 seconds to make something happen. Again, Miami had the answer in crunch time. Its defensive line overwhelmed Carr’s protection and the game ended with a whimper after another grounding penalty.

Winning the battle in the trenches was important for the Canes but they also had a solid game plan. Notre Dame rarely blitzed Beck and tried to deploy man coverage on their receivers. Beck repeatedly had time to find an open man. When the Irish mixed in zone coverage, Beck recognized it and made them pay.

Miami also shut down the Irish running backs for the most part. They baited Carr into flat passes on RPO reads and swarmed to the ball for little or no gain. Notre Dame did not quit but they never were able to gain a semblance of dominance on either side of the ball.

Let’s review the answers to our pregame questions.

• Which team will establish a productive running game? Miami did a better job all night and moved the pile where they wanted it to go.
• Can Carr get off to a good start or will the moment be too big for him? Carr was fine. He will be an excellent quarterback for the program. His mistakes are fixable but he still needs reliable pass blocking and a competent running game. The offense he was asked to run tonight also needs significant improvement. Play-calling at times was absurd.
• Which defensive front will exert the most pressure on the quarterback? Miami in a landslide.
• Will the Irish special teams win the battle of field position? Not really. This phase was pretty much even throughout.
• Can Notre Dame’s secondary blanket Miami’s patchwork receiving corps? Not without a decent pass rush. Any secondary is vulnerable without help up front.
• Will depth play a role in the Miami heat and humidity? It was the Irish offensive and defensive fronts that wilted in the final minutes
• Which team will have the fewest penalties and turnovers? Both teams had penalties that hurt them but Field’s early fumble and Carr’s late interception were costly.
• Can Burnette convert his field goal attempts for the Irish? Burnette looked fine. Unfortunately, he had only one chance while Davis had two.

Although the final score was close, there was never a moment when I thought Notre Dame would win. They certainly didn’t deserve to come out ahead on the scoreboard. When the Irish tied the game late at 24, I had little doubt that Miami would be able to respond. Coach Freeman and his staff have plenty of work to do. They must find ways to protect Carr and harass their opponent’s passer. A bye week is welcome but it will take longer to build the trust that grew throughout last season. Fans would do well to remember that performance is the only thing that matters. We can all forget about the preseason hype regarding this team. They did find their quarterback but he was the least of their problems tonight.

This is a reprint of John’s original recap article lost in a site technical issue