SOUTH BEND, Ind.
— CJ Carr threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns, and No.
4 Notre Dame avenged its most damaging loss from last season by running out to a 21-point lead and holding on to beat No.
1 Miami 31-24 on Saturday night.
Micah Gilbert caught two of those scoring passes, Jordan Faison had the other and Nolan James Jr.
had a rushing score for Notre Dame (8-1, No.
11 College Football Playoff), which came into the game knowing another loss to Miami could doom its national championship hopes.
Not to worry.
The Hurricanes (8-1, No.
1 CFP) started slowly on offense in their first game without injured wide receiver and Heisman Trophy hopeful Malachi Toney — and Notre Dame, which lost to Miami 27-24 last season in a game that ultimately kept the Irish out of the playoff, never trailed.
“I’m happy for this university,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said in a televised on-field interview.
“I’m happy for our players.
There’s a lot of support from Notre Dame Nation and this is special moment for them.
They’re a dang good football team and they beat a dang good football team.” Darian Mensah threw three touchdown passes for Miami, twice getting the Hurricanes within a touchdown after they trailed 24-3 early in the third.
Cooper Barkate had a pair of those scoring grabs, and Elija Lofton had the other.
Lofton nearly had a touchdown catch that would have made it 31-30 — the score of the Miami-Notre Dame game in 1988 — with 3:36 left, appearing to make a fourth-down grab in the end zone and getting his feet down.
But Notre Dame’s Luke Talich — who had an interception in the third quarter — knocked the ball away, with officials ruling that Lofton didn’t complete the grab.
Notre Dame took over on downs, ran the clock down to about a minute and held on from there.
Miami coach Mario Cristobal said he was “beyond....
