There are certain games every team plays in the course of a season where things don’t go perfectly, smoothly, or as planned.
Maybe it’s just an “off day” where things just aren’t clicking, or the opposition plays better than expected, or poor weather came into play and made things more challenging. Saturday was one of those days for Notre Dame. And the Irish handled it how great teams do. Win anyways.
The Irish have now won 15 games in a row by double digits
On the plus side of things, Notre Dame’s win over North Carolina continues the Irish’s impressive streak of not only wins in a row but also double-digit wins in a row.
That number now sits at 15. I realize these games haven’t been against the best competition, but this is an impressive feat nonetheless and shows just how high Notre Dame’s baseline level of competency is. This is a very good football program right now.
While there are Notre Dame fans who are concerned about some of the sloppy penalties, special teams play, and rare open passing lanes available against the vaunted Irish defense.
They should take solace in knowing that Notre Dame can go on the road in poor weather to face off against the most accomplished mind in modern football, with an off week to prepare for the game, not play clean football, and still win by double digits.
While the Irish were sloppy in many aspects, the run game took a huge step forward vs North Carolina as the Irish piled up 241 yards through the air and found their top running back in Jonaz Walton. This, not the random inefficiencies, is the storyline of the game.
Does Notre Dame look like the third-ranked team in America?
For those who were particularly disturbed by some of Notre Dame’s sloppiness in this game, the focus isn’t so much on whether the Irish would end up winning a game against an unranked team, but on whether the grading was on a different scale.
Would this performance be good enough to beat the best teams Notre Dame plays in the regular season or in the playoff?
While I understand that concern and complaint and am unsure of the answer to this question, the reality is that as long as Notre Dame continues to collect wins, things are fine.
The Irish have a long track record of playing great defense and special teams; one less-than-stellar week in a win shouldn’t keep Irish fans up at night.
Notre Dame isn’t perfect, but it has a perfect record. And that’s what matters early in the season more than anything else.
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