Signature Win, Delivered: Notre Dame Takes Down No. 1 Miami and Dares the Committee to Ignore It

Five days. That's how long it took Notre Dame to answer the question the College Football Playoff committee asked out loud.

On Tuesday, the committee parked the Irish at No. 11 and explained, politely, that they didn't have a signature win. On Saturday night, in a near-freezing, packed Notre Dame Stadium, they went and got the biggest one available: 31-24 over No. 1 Miami, the team that beat them in last year's opener and then edged them out for the final playoff spot.

Grudge match, résumé fix and a 21-point lead that nearly evaporated. It had everything, including a catch-or-no-catch argument that Miami will be having for years.

CJ Carr picked the right night to be perfect

For two and a half quarters, Notre Dame's quarterback looked like the guy who opened the season as the Heisman betting favorite.

CJ Carr finished 29 of 40 for 319 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He was 18 of 26 for 205 yards and two scores by halftime, and the drive that closed the half was the sharpest stretch of football anybody played all night: an eight-play two-minute march capped by an 18-yard touchdown to Micah Gilbert with 29 seconds left. He opened the third quarter by hitting Gilbert again from 20 yards out, and it was 24-3.

Gilbert finished with nine catches for 98 yards and both of those touchdowns. Jordan Faison added six for 77, including a 27-yard toe-tap touchdown up the right sideline that looked like it was drawn on a whiteboard.

Marcus Freeman set the tone on the first possession by going for it on fourth down. Asked about it afterward, he rejected the premise that a big opponent should change anything. If you're nervous on a fourth-down call against Navy, he said, you'll be nervous against Miami. Fair. Also, very easy to say when it works.

The defense did its part early, too. In the second quarter, Miami got stuffed on third down at the Irish 1, and Mario Cristobal chose a 19-yard field goal over going for it. In a game decided by seven, that's going to sit in somebody's stomach for a while.

Then Miami remembered it's Miami

Without Malachi Toney, who had ankle surgery Thursday and watched from home, Miami's offense spent the first half stuck in mud. Then it wasn't.

Darian Mensah hit Elija Lofton for a 12-yard score, then found Cooper Barkate from 12 yards out, and a 24-3 game was 24-17 in the middle of the third quarter. Barkate finished with 10 catches for 92 yards. Lofton, the tight end who had to become a No. 1 option overnight, caught seven for 113.

Freeman later admitted the bleeding forced a change in plan. Notre Dame had been living in man coverage, and when star corner Leonard Moore went down after getting poked in the eye, Miami went right at it. "We came to the point where it's the definition of insanity," Freeman said. The Irish mixed in zone and finally steadied.

Mensah finished 24 of 43 with three touchdowns and one interception. That interception turned out to matter more than any of the touchdowns.

Luke Talich, twice

With Miami near midfield and every bit of momentum on its sideline, Mensah threw on third-and-4 and Notre Dame safety Luke Talich jumped the route intended for Lofton. A few plays later, Carr found Nolan James Jr. on a fourth-down screen that went for 36 yards, and James punched in a 1-yard run. 31-17.

Miami answered again: Barkate from 1 yard with 9:53 left, 31-24. Notre Dame's Spencer Porath then missed a 53-yarder wide left, handing Miami a short field and a real chance to tie it.

Which brings us to the play. Fourth-and-6 from the Irish 18, just under four minutes left. Mensah threw to Lofton in the end zone. Lofton got both feet down. Talich got a hand in and knocked the ball loose as Lofton went out of bounds. Officials ruled it incomplete, and replay upheld it.

Miami was furious. Cristobal said he was "beyond upset," then pivoted to the classic coach move of blaming himself anyway: "Don't leave it in the hands of the officials. Play better. Coach better. Find a way to win." Even Miami's university president, Joe Echevarria, said quietly on his way out of the locker room area, per AP: "I wish it had been a touchdown."

Our view: it was close enough that both fan bases will swear they're right forever, which is the best kind of call for a rivalry this old. Miami's final drive died with a sack on the first play, and a last-second hook-and-ladder ended with the ball bouncing around on the turf.

History, revenge and a toast to 1988

Notre Dame's own release counts this as the program's 10th win over a No. 1 team. NBC Sports noted it came six years to the day after the double-overtime win over Clemson in 2020. And the 31 points echoed the 31-30 win over No. 1 Miami in 1988 that Freeman said he walked his players through, minus the video.

Notre Dame now leads the series 19-9-1, 10-1 at home. The Irish are 8-1. Miami is 8-1.

Freeman didn't pretend this was just another Saturday. "This is big. This is special," he said. "I'm not going to sit here and say this is like the other ones. No, this is different." He also said he wanted time to stop, because Boston College week starts in the morning.

On the other side, Mensah apologized to Toney, who had told teammates to bring one back for him before the team flew north. "I apologize to him for not being able to do that," he said.

Where everybody lands now

Sunday's AP poll moved Notre Dame to No. 3 and dropped Miami to No. 5, with Georgia back at No. 1 and Utah and UCLA in between. The bigger number comes Tuesday, when the committee releases its second rankings and has to decide how far a win over the No. 1 team moves a team it had at 11.

If the answer is anything less than a big jump, the committee should be ready to explain what exactly a signature win is supposed to look like.

Miami isn't dead, not close. It still controls a path through the ACC title game, with Duke coming to Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday at noon, and Toney is aiming to be back in December. But the cushion is gone, and so is the "1."

Notre Dame, meanwhile, did the one thing the committee said it hadn't. Now it's the committee's move.