NO. 10 IRISH PREVAIL IN ACC DEBUT
Speed burner runs for 112 yards, goes 75 yards with screen
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Running back Kyren Williams was ready to go in his starting debut for Notre Dame.
The No. 10 Irish rode the sophomore’s big day to a 27-13 victory over Duke on Saturday at rainy Notre Dame Stadium in the season and ACC opener for both teams.
“I’ve been getting a lot of reps,” Williams, who ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries and was Notre Dame’s leading receiver with two catches totaling 93 yards, one a 75-yarder on a screen play. “It took a couple of drives for me to finally relax and breathe.”
Coach Brian Kelly was impressed with Williams’ performance, aided by 263 passing yards by grad quarterback Ian Book.
“That was a pretty good opener for [Williams]; there’s a lot he can build off of this,” Kelly said about the speedy Williams, who saw limited action last season as a freshman.
It took the Irish time to get going, but once they did, there was no looking back
“We knew it was going to be a grind, but they hung in there,” Kelly said on a day when the school announced a four-year contract extension for him through the 2024 season and he improved to 9-2 in openers. “We played much better football in the second half.”
The victory was Notre Dame’s 19th straight at home and the first for the Fighting Irish in a conference after 132 years as an independent. Because of COVID-19, the Irish are playing this season as a member of the ACC. The school announced a crowd of 10,097, 90% of them students, attended the game in the 77,622-seat stadium where fans were wearing masks and socially distanced because of the pandemic.
“Hats off to Duke, they had a good scheme,” Book said. “I thought our offensive line did a great job. I had a little bit of a slow start, but the team carried me until I got back to where I needed to be.”
A successful 14-yard run on a fake punt by Jay Bramblett in the second quarter was followed by Williams’ one-yard scoring run that allowed the Irish to overcome a 3-0 deficit after the first quarter.
Williams’ second touchdown came on fourth-and-inches from the Duke 26-yard line when he took a handoff from Book, cut left outside of the blocks of tackle Liam Eichenberg and guard Aaron Banks and burst into the end zone for a 17-6 Irish lead in the third quarter.
Book, who rushed for 139 yards and passed for 181 yards and four touchdowns last season in Notre Dame’s 38-7 victory at Duke, completed 19 of 31 passes, one a 17-yard touchdown pass to Avery Davis early in the fourth quarter that increased the Irish lead to 24-13. He rushed for just 12 yards on nine carries.
Book outdueled Duke grad quarterback Chase Brice, who threw for 259 yards on 20-for-37 passing and rushed for a touchdown in his debut for coach David Cutcliffe after transferring in from Clemson.
“The story of the day was they made more plays than we made,” Cutcliffe said. “They’re a good team. I think we have a really good football. We have to play better in the second half than we did on offense.”
The Irish, who were outgained 151-13 in the first quarter as the Blue Devils took a 3-0 lead on the first of Charlie Ham’s two field goals, took a 10-6 halftime lead when Jonathan Doerer nailed a 48yard field goal, his first of two successful tries, as time expired.
The Blue Devils, who had 246 yards at halftime, had just 82 after halftime. Notre Dame finished with a 439-334 edge in total offense, including a 176-75 advantage on the ground.
“We hadn’t played spring ball, and we didn’t play since December,” Kelly said. “It’s difficult to duplicate game-like speed when you haven’t had that for such a long time. We had to be patient and then make some adjustments.”