No. 16 Notre Dame surges past mistake-prone NC State 36-7
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WTVD) -- C.J. Carr passed for 342 yards and two touchdowns, and No. 16 Notre Dame pulled away from sloppy N.C. State in the second half for a 36-7 victory on Saturday.
Carr connected on 19 of 31 passes, including TD tosses of 18 yards to K.K. Smith and 12 yards to Will Pauling in the third quarter.
Jeremiyah Love rushed for 86 yards and two touchdowns for Notre Dame (4-2), which has won four in a row.
Notre Dame led just 10-7 at halftime. The Fighting Irish outscored the Wolfpack 26-0 in the second half.
Eli Raridon had seven catches for 109 yards, and Pauling had four catches for 105 yards as Notre Dame relied on the passing game more than its heralded 1-2 running game punch of Love and Jadarian Price.
"We just want to win," Carr said. "That's the result we want, whether it's (Love and Price) carrying the ball, and there are times they're going to have six touchdowns each, or we're going to spread the field out and throw it all over the yard."
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said that his team did not play its best game.
"My message was stop beating Notre Dame," Freeman said of what he told his team after they only held a three-point lead at halftime. "That was the message. .... It's easy for me to say don't beat Notre Dame, but we have to continue to train our minds to focus in the right way and go out and execute."
C.J. Bailey connected with Terrell Anderson on a 45-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter for the Wolfpack's only score.
The Wolfpack (4-3) was prone to mistakes all day. Bailey threw three second-half interceptions, overthrew receivers on several occasions, and fumbled a snap into his own end zone for a safety. He was also sacked four times.
N.C. State coach Dave Doeren said turnovers haunted the Wolfpack.
"C.J. (Bailey) was off," Doeren said. "We had some chances for some good throws down the field and overthrew the ball. It happens at times. If you're in a game where they're going to overload the box and play man-to-man, you have to be able to throw to those down-the-field routes."
N.C. State entered the game averaging 447.7 yards of total offense a game, but only managed 233 yards on Saturday.
N.C. State star running back Hollywood Smothers only gained 46 yards on 12 carries. He entered the game averaging 115.5 yards.
The Wolfpack has lost three of its last four, including setbacks against Duke and Virginia Tech before Saturday's game at Notre Dame. A 56-10 victory over Campbell is the only bright spot for the Wolfpack in the past month.
N.C. State plays at Pittsburgh on Oct. 25.
The Associated Press contributed.
