Notre Dame dominated Arkansas on Saturday in hopes of impressing the College Football Playoff committee.
The Fighting Irish lost a pair of close games to ranked teams to start the season, but a first-half offensive explosion of 42 points helped the Irish roll to 2–2 with a 56–13 blowout of Arkansas (2–3). That marked the second week in a row where the Irish put up 56 points on a Power Four opponent.
Notre Dame did it to Purdue the week before with a 56–30 victory in South Bend, Indiana, on Sept. 20. The Irish tallied 539 yards of total offense in that win, and the offense took it to another level at Arkansas with 641 total yards.
While the No. 22 Irish cruised again, the final ranked team on the schedule, No. 21 USC (4–1), fell for the first time on Saturday when No. 23 Illinois (4–1) walked off the Trojans, 34–32, with a game-winning field goal.
Notre Dame could end up with no ranked teams on the remaining schedule if USC loses again ahead of their Oct. 18 game in South Bend. The Trojans face No. 19 Michigan (3–1) next after a bye week, and USC has No. 6 Oregon late in the season.
In addition, USC lost to an Illini team that got embarrassed by No. 11 Indiana (4–0) by 53 points, 63–10, the week before. That could hurt Notre Dame’s strength of schedule going forward.
Notre Dame plays Boise State (2–1) next on Oct. 4, and the Broncos aren’t the playoff team they were last year. N.C. State (3–1) has a solid start to the season, and Syracuse (3–2) has impressed at times. Otherwise, the Irish have Pittsburgh (2–2), Boston College (1–2), and Navy (3–0) on the remaining schedule.
It will behoove Notre Dame to put on more offensive shows similar to the first-ever trip to Fayetteville, Arkansas. Irish quarterback C.J. Carr and running back Jeremiyah Love did just that on Saturday.
Carr went 22-30 for 354 yards and four touchdowns, which equalled former Irish quarterback Ron Powlus’ single-game freshman touchdown record in 1994. Love tallied four touchdowns in the first half alone as he dominated on the ground in the passing game. He rushed for 57 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries, and he caught seven passes for 34 yards and two scores.
It snowballed in the second quarter after Razorbacks offensive lineman Shaq McRoy scored on a 1-yard touchdown, 14–10. Notre Dame had already been moving the ball comfortably with two scoring drives of 70-plus yards, but the Irish took it to another level when Carr completed a 23-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Will Pauling, 21–10.
The Irish unleashed Carr in the second quarter as he completed touchdown passes of 34 yards to Love and 35 yards to running back Jadarian Price. Love also rushed for a 3-yard touchdown in the quarter as Notre Dame built a 42–13 halftime lead.
Price stretched the lead to 49–13 in the third quarter on a 16-yard touchdown run, and fellow running back Aneyas Williams tacked on a 17-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Price led the Irish ground game with 13 carries for 86 yards and a touchdown, and wide receiver Jordan Faison led all pass catches with seven receptions for 89 yards plus his 40-yard completion.
Notre Dame’s defense shut out Arkansas in the second half and limited the Razorbacks to 6.5 yards on average for passing plays. The Irish also had two takeaways with Luke Talich’s interception and DeVonta Smith’s fumble recovery. In addition, Jordan Botelho, Jaylen Sneed, and Boubacar Traore each had a sack for the Irish.
Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green went 17-32 for 207 yards and a pick. Green also led all Razorbacks rushers with 81 yards on 10 carries, which included a long of 54 yards.
Razorbacks running back Mike Washington Jr. ran for 63 yards on 15 carries, and wide receiver O’Mega Blake led Arkansas’ pass catchers with six receptions for 73 yards.
Arkansas has a bye week coming up before an Oct. 11 game with No. 15 Tennessee.
