On Sunday night, Notre Dame opened its 2025 season with a hard-fought loss at Miami in a top-10 matchup. In their 27-24 shortcoming, the Irish never led but managed to take the outcome’s decision down to the game’s final drive. Here are the five key moments that brought on Sunday’s result at Hard Rock Stadium.
Both teams trade early miscues
After a massive downpour occurred three hours before kickoff in Miami Gardens, a steady rain continued to fall throughout the first half. That precipitation may have hurt both the Irish and the Hurricanes on their second drives of the game.
Notre Dame, which received the initial kickoff, opened drive number two in a scoreless game with a screen pass to senior wideout Malachi Fields. Immediately after turning up the field with his first catch in an Irish uniform, the Virginia transfer fumbled while being driven to the ground. Miami safety Jakobe Thomas fell on the loose football, setting the Hurricanes up inside the Irish 25.
The Hurricanes moved inside the Notre Dame 10 with a first-down pickup but ultimately stalled out, bringing on transfer kicker Carter Davis for his first field goal attempt in a Miami uniform. He never had the chance to swing his leg, though, as holder Dylan Joyce bobbled the snap and couldn’t put the ball down. Joyce ran out to the left side looking to pass but had nowhere to go, succumbing to a tackle and leaving the Hurricanes scoreless after the turnover.
Carr dazzles to answer Miami’s opening score
The Hurricanes eventually struck first less than a minute into the second quarter, true freshman wide receiver Malachi Toney broke free on a deep crosser near the goal line and hauled in Carson Beck’s 28-yard touchdown pass. Although the Irish followed with a 3-and-out on the ensuing drive, they tied the score at 7-7 on the next one.
On the tying drive, Notre Dame opened up the run game for the first time, feeding senior running back Jadarian Price for carries of 14 and 30 yards. The Irish lost their rushing attack near the goal line, though, setting up a third-and-goal situation from Miami’s 7-yard line. Dropping back to pass, freshman quarterback CJ Carr, a first-time starter, felt pressure and departed the pocket. With a Patrick Mahomes-like swerve, he lost defensive tackle Ahmad Moten, giving himself time to find freshman receiver Micah Gilbert wide open for his first career touchdown pass and Gilbert’s first career scoring catch.
Hurricanes seize control at the midway point
Receiving the second half’s opening kickoff, Miami took full advantage of the 2-for-1 opportunity that came with Notre Dame’s touchdown occurring late in the first half. The Hurricanes marched down the field with consistent gains before halftime, but they ran out of timeouts still 20 yards from the end zone with 18 seconds remaining. Even though a field goal seemed the only possibility, Miami found paydirt on a dangerous lob down the middle from Beck. On the receiving end, wideout CJ Daniels robbed sophomore safety Adon Shuler of an easy interception with a one-handed grab, giving the Hurricanes a 14-7 lead with only a dozen seconds remaining.
Miami rolled right back down the field to start the second half, converting a pair of third-and-8 situations to enter the red zone. The Hurricanes ended up scoring from 5 yards out, as running back CharMar Brown hit a wall just short of the goal line on his run before receiving a push from just about every orange jersey on the field. Just past the midway point of the third quarter, Miami led by a 21-7 count.
Irish rally after brutal interception
Notre Dame’s offense woke up late in the third quarter, pushing deep into Miami territory thanks to Fields’ atonement catch on a 26-yard jump ball. The Irish would score on the first play of the final quarter, as Carr found junior wide receiver Jordan Faison all by himself in the end zone for a goal-line touchdown.
After forcing a 3-and-out, the Irish received the chance to score again and tie the game, but they were met with disaster. Notre Dame had largely limited Carr’s playbook to screen passes all night long and tried again early in the drive. However, Miami read the play and hit Faison at the point of contact, knocking the ball up in the air multiple times before Rueben Bain Jr. came down with the game’s only interception.
The teams would trade field goals before the Irish defense made another three-play stop, allowing Notre Dame’s offense another chance to level the score down 24-17 with 4:35 remaining. Notre Dame’s first play went big, as Miami lost senior tight end Eli Raridon in coverage, and he burned the Hurricanes on a 65-yard catch. Two plays later, Carr channeled his inner Riley Leonard and delivered the tying touchdown on a 7-yard quarterback draw.
Miami makes the winning stop
Even with all the momentum change that occurred as Notre Dame erased a 14-point deficit, the ball remained in Miami’s court. With 3:21 on the clock, the Hurricanes could drive down the field and win the game on a field goal. They did just that, running the ball with Brown on six out of eight plays to set up Davis for a go-ahead make from 47 yards away.
The Hurricanes did leave 64 seconds of time for the Irish, but Notre Dame had exhausted all of its timeouts on the previous drive to keep Miami from kicking in the final seconds. That put Carr in the gun, and Miami’s pass rush put him in the loss column. After moving the sticks with a 12-yard completion to Raridon, Carr committed his second intentional grounding penalty of the night, bringing the Irish back to their 30-yard line with 26 seconds to play. The next play, a second consecutive sack by Akheem Mesidor, ran the clock out and ended the game.
