NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Two weeks ago undefeated Utah was ranked No. 5 in the country, a contender for a Bowl Championship Series berth with an outside shot at the national title game.

Saturday afternoon the Utes dropped into the category of pretenders after falling to Notre Dame 28-3 in the Fighting Irish’s home finale.

Back-to-back lopsided loses have left Utah not only out of a possible BCS bowl game, but probably out of the top 20 in the national rankings.

The victory moved the Fighting Irish within a game of being bowl eligible as Notre Dame heads to New York on Saturday to face Army at Yankee Stadium. The victory also gave head coach Brian Kelly his first signature victory as the Irish defeated a ranked team for the first time since 2006.

“What you saw today was a football team that didn’t have on their shoulders the traditions and reputations and all the things that you have to worry about sometimes being a football player at Notre Dame, and they just flat out played,” Kelly said. “We’ll continue to build on that to play the game. Because it is just a game. And today you saw a team — and Utah is physically and mentally a tough football team — and today we were able to beat them at their game.”

Early on its was special teams and defense that carried the Irish. In the second half the offense came to life, particularly in the third quarter, and Notre Dame sent its 37 seniors out with a victory.

After Utah opened up with a 46-yard Joe Phillips field goal midway through the first quarter, Notre Dame’s defense stepped up and its special teams gave the Irish the lead for good with 2:04 left in the period.

After stopping the Utes (8-2) and forcing a punt, Robert Blanton broke through the Utah line and blocked the punt, picked it up and ran six yards to for the score.

“It’s interesting. I just said to coach (Mike) Elston, I said, you know what, we’ve just been on our heels too much in punt. You know, we just seemed to always, you know, concern ourselves with the return game and not wanting to get after it. And we worked really hard this week on getting the punt. That was something we talked about, let’s get one. And Blanton’s an exceptional athlete who can bend off the edge as good as anybody can. And we set it up pretty good and it was a huge momentum maker.

“Any time you block a punt in the game, I think we’ve seen enough games, they generally lead to real good things for you down the road. So that was a big play for us, but it was a point of emphasis as well.”

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham was quick to point out that mistakes by his team are not acceptable and especially teams like TCU and Notre Dame.

“They had a great game plan going in, they knew what they had to do and did what they needed to do to win the football game,” Whittingham said. “They made the plays when they were there to be made. We weren’t able to do that. Came out minus two on the turnover margin. Again, against a team like Notre Dame, that is the same issue we had last week. We were minus three last week, and minus two this week. Had a punt blocked. Entirely too many penalties.”

In the second quarter, Notre Dame would put together its best drive of the half, going 61 yards in just three plays, to make it 14-3 when Michael Floyd caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Tommy Rees.

Despite an 11-point lead, the Irish had just 95 yards in total offense heading into the locker room at halftime.

That all changed in the third quarter. Notre Dame came out for the second half and looked like a different team on offense.

The Fighting Irish (5-5) scored a pair of touchdowns to break the game open.

The first score came on a 26-yard Rees to senior Duval Kamara touchdown pass just 13 seconds into the quarter following a Utah fumble on the opening kickoff.

The pair hooked up again just over four minutes later, this time on a 12-yard pass and the Irish led 28-3.

From there Notre Dame turned the game over to its defense and it continues its strong performance. The Irish held the high-powered Utah offense to just 265 total yards, including just 71 on the ground.

Notre Dame held Utah without a touchdown for the first time since 2007. They also held the Utes to a season-low in total yards.

After a slow start, Notre Dame finished with 256 yards in total offense.

Rees was 13-of-20 for 129 yards and three touchdowns. Cierre Wood finished with 80 yards rushing on 19 carries. Floyd and Kamara combined for six catches for 77 yards and three touchdowns.

“I told them (the offensive line) we had talked all week about there has to be a time and place where you win the game up front,” Kelly said. “It can’t be finesse football and fast break, and 30, 40 throws. There’s got to be time and place. This was a game where it had to be won up front. I think just putting it on their shoulders from that perspective and committing to it and staying with it. They knew that they were going to be central to the success today and our defensive line. This game was won up front.”

Utah’s Jordan Wynn was 24-of-39 for 194 yards passing with an interception. Matt Asiata finished with 48 yards on 13 carries.

 

Utah 3 0 0 0 – 3

Notre Dame 7 7 14 0 – 28

U – Joe Phillips 46 field goals

ND – Robert Blanton 6 blocked punt return (David Ruffer kick)

ND – Michael Floyd 3 pass from Tommy Rees (Ruffer kick)

ND – Duval Kamara 26 pass from Rees (Ruffer kick)

ND – Kamara 12 pass from Rees (Ruffer kick)