By By ADAM PAYNE / Dowagiac Daily News
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame sophomore quarterback Evan Sharpley and freshmen James Aldridge and George West may have been expecting a good amount of playing time on Saturday as the 1-7 Tar Heels from North Carolina were visiting a 7-1 Notre Dame squad posed for a blowout.
North Carolina was intent on forcing Notre Dame's first team to stay on the field, however, and came in fueled by the lopsided expectations of this contest.
The Fighting Irish were able to pull out a 45-26 victory that left as many questions as answers.
The Irish started quickly, scoring on their first possession, a 6-play, 65-yard drive that consumed only 2:03 of the clock.
On the first play of the subsequent North Carolina drive, quarterback Joe Dailey was sacked by Notre Dame senior defensive end Victor Abiamiri for a huge loss of nine yards. Coupled with the breezy touchdown drive on Notre Dame's aforementioned possession, the sack threatened to derail the Tar Heels' hopes from the outset. Two plays and five yards later, North Carolina was forced to punt.
The Irish started their second drive on their own 45 and quickly proceeded to gain 14 yards on two passes from Brady Quinn to Jeff Samardzija and John Carlson. Now first and 10 at the UNC 41-yard line, the Irish were in position to put an early end to the contest and afford an opportunity for their underclassmen to play. For the second straight-home game the Irish had the ball at midfield with a chance to take a commanding first quarter lead.
Two weeks earlier against UCLA, the Irish survived some early mistakes and had the ball at midfield following a Terrail Lambert interception and a chance to blow the game open. They proceeded to go three an out and allow the Bruins to not only stay in the game but force the Irish offense to perform a few last-minute heroics to get the victory.
On Saturday, the circumstances were similar. If the Irish could pound out a decent drive and command a double digit lead early in the game, they may have had the Tar Heels reeling, but for the second straight-home game they failed to make their own lives very easy.
After the 14-yard pick up, Notre Dame went backwards six yards on two incomplete passes and a sack and were forced to punt from the 47. The ensuing touchback started North Carolina at the 20, whence they drove 80 yards in less than three minutes in only eight plays to tie the game.
A few series later, with the Irish leading 24-7, Tar Heel sophomore Brandon Tate returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown. While Notre Dame's lead remained 24-13, the Irish once again demonstrated their inability to take complete and total control of a game.
The Irish did take a 31-13 lead into halftime, and the aforementioned underclassmen likely did some extra stretching anticipating their inevitable playing time. They would be sitting a while yet, however, as North Carolina outscored Notre Dame 13-7 in the third, taking a reasonable 26-38 deficit into the final quarter.
Forced to remain in the game into the fourth, Brady Quinn ran the ball to the right for a 4-yard gain to the UNC 16 and was forced out of bounds. A marginally late hit caused a bit of a scene to supply the last of the drama for the afternoon. After Brady was shoved out of bounds, what seemed to be every yellow flag in the building flew in his direction.
Brady quickly gained his stance and waved to the crowd, smiling. A small fracas then ensued the end result of which being two UNC personal foul penalties and an Irish holding penalty giving Notre Dame first and goal from the 7- yard line. Three Darius Walker rushes later and the score was 45-26 with 11:13 to play.
The final 11-plus minutes consisted of a George West fumbled punt return, an 0-for-1 passing performance by Sharpley, and eight impressive rushes for 45 yards by freshman running back James Aldridge as the Irish adequately ran out the clock for the 19-point victory.