NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Coming out of the locker room it was easy to see that this was a different Notre Dame football team.

The offense began to click and stepped up to put 14 points on the board to grow the lead to 28-3 heading into the final quarter.

• The Fighting Irish started the second half on a high note as it kicked off to Utah, forced a fumble and recovered it at the Utes’ 26-yard line. On the very next play, Tommy Rees hits Duval Kamara for a touchdown and a 21-3 Notre Dame lead just 13 seconds into the third quarter.

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  After struggling for much of the first half, freshman quarterback Rees comes to life in the third quarter. He throws his second straight touchdown pass to Kamara and with 9:09 to play in the period to extend the Irish’s lead to 28-3. It is the second time in his career that Kamara has caught two touchdowns in a game. The first time was his freshman campaign.

• Irish head coach Brian Kelly is looking to improve to 8-1 in his career following a bye week. With a 25-point lead and a quarter and a half to play, he is looking like a lock for it.

• Utah finally puts together a nice drive only to have it stall at the Notre Dame 8-yard line. On fourth and goal, Jordan Wynn’s pass falls incomplete. Back-to-back incompletions end the drive.

• The Irish offense picks up where the defense left off and moves the ball out of the shadow of the goal line to the 35-yard line as the third quarter ends.

• After going 8-of-13 for 43 yards passing in the first half, Rees was 4-of-4 in the third quarter for 46 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

• The Fighting Irish had just 95 yards in total offense through the first two quarters, but gained 116 yards in the third quarter to raise their game total to 211.