C.J. Prosise sprints down the sideline during Notre Dame’s 62-27 win over UMass. Evan J. Thomas/The Pit
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he sixth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-0) put up 681 yards of offense, scored 62 points but with just over three minutes left in the first half the score was 21-20 in favor of the Irish.
That was until Irish punt returner C.J. Sanders snagged a punt and cut not once but twice through the special teams coverage for a 50 yard touchdown return and gave Notre Dame a 28-20 lead.
“The special team work was outstanding,” Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly stated, giving credit to Sanders. “He’s a very shifty runner. He’s got great vision. It was a big play. It gave us momentum, certainly.”
The Irish shook off a shaky start as the defense gave up a 83 yard touchdown run by the University of Massachusetts (0-3) running back Marquis Young and 1 yard TD runs by Sekai Lindsay and Jamal Wilson. The Minutemen added a 33 yard TD catch late in the fourth quarter to cap the UMass scoring.
DeShone Kizer stands under center for his second start as Notre Dame quarterback. Evan J. Thomas/The Pit
Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer tossed a 7 yard TD pass to wide receiver Chris Brown with just 6 seconds remaining to give the Irish a 35-20 halftime lead.
Irish running back C.J. Prosise started off the scoring with a 57 yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Prosise rushed for 149 yards on 15 carries for a 9.9 yard per rush average. Prosise added a 16 yard scoring run and freshman Dexter Williams scampered in the end zone for a 14 yard TD run.
The Irish amassed 457 yards on the ground Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium marking the fourth straight rushing game of 200 or more yards. Not since Darius Walker in 2005 has an Irish running back had three straight 100 yard games but Prosise has done that.
“The line just had an amazing game for us,” Prosise said. “We had a lot of big holes to run through. All we had to do was make somebody miss back end and we were able to make some big plays.”
Kizer finished the day completing 15 of 22 passes for 207 yards with two TDs and one interception. Freshman Brandon Wimbush got some playing time with the game out of hand and completed 3 of his 5 passes for 17 yards. Wimbush showed off some speed as he dashed for a 58 yard TD run late in the third quarter. Wide receiver Will Fuller snagged his sixth TD catch of the season.
C.J. Sanders carries the ball against UMass on Saturday. Evan J. Thomas/The Pit
Once the game was in hand, coach Kelly got some of the Irish backups some much needed play in the second half.
“Their varsity was better than our varsity, and their JV was a little better than our JV,” UMass coach Mark Whipple said. “We kind of put a little shock into them and woke them up I guess at the end of the second quarter.”
UMass quarterback Blake Frohnapfel finished the game completing 20 of his 40 passes for 233 yards and one interception. The Minutemen finished with 450 yards of total offense. The teams combined for over 1000 yards of offense and 80+ points.
Irish punter Tyler Newsome averaged a mighty 52.4 yards per punt, breaking the old school record set in 2006 by Geoff Price and his 51.9 yards per punt average.
Notre Dame for the second straight season and third time in six seasons under coach Brian Kelly the Irish have started 4-0. Massachusetts are now 0-3 for the fourth straight season since moving up to the FBS level.
Not since 1996 have the Irish put up 62 points, the last instance was a 62-0 blowout over Rutgers in what was legendary Notre Dame coach’ Lou Holtz’s final home game.
Next up for Notre Dame is a trip to Clemson (3-0) on Saturday to take on the No. 11 Tigers at Memorial Stadium in South Carolina.
