Notre Dame heads to Chapel Hill on Saturday with the matchup framed by a familiar question: can North Carolina find enough answers to slow down a defense that has smothered nearly everyone it has seen lately?
The third-ranked Irish enter Kenan Memorial Stadium as 20.5-point favorites, with the over/under set at 46.5. ESPN will carry the game, with Wes Durham handling play-by-play, Dusty Dvoracek on color and Taylor McGregor reporting from the sidelines. The Notre Dame Radio Network broadcast features Tony Simeone on play-by-play and Mike Golic, Sr. 1985 as analyst, with SiriusXM 129 also carrying it.
The clearest edge in this game may be on the Notre Dame defensive side, where second-year coordinator Chris Ash has overseen a unit that has held 10 of its last 12 opponents to one offensive touchdown or fewer, dating back to the rough first half against Purdue in mid-September 2025. The numbers around North Carolina’s offense only sharpen that picture.
Against Power 4 opponents Clemson and TCU, the Tar Heels have played eight quarters and scored just three touchdowns. They rank 115th in yards per point and 86th in yards per play, while Notre Dame checks in at 3rd nationally in yards per point and 17th in yards per play.
The Irish have allowed 0.142 points per play, second only to Utah through the opening month.
That said, North Carolina does have one defensive front piece that can change the conversation. No.
9 Melkart Abou Jaoude is the name to know at defensive end, even though he has been sidelined since suffering a hand/wrist injury against TCU. In that lone game this season, the fifth-year player logged two quarterback pressures, a sack and a forced fumble in the Tar Heels’ 15-10 win in Dublin.
Last season, his first at North Carolina after three years at Delaware, he posted 42 quarterback pressures and 12 sacks. Alongside him, interior rusher Xavier Lewis has 14 pressures, including six hits, through four games, and Jaylen Harvey has added nine pressures.
Those numbers have helped make North Carolina’s pass rush a talking point, and Irish head coach Marcus Freeman addressed that challenge this week.
"They have like two different fronts where it's almost different personnel where they bring those the 5 D-linemen, and it's a 3-4 type scheme," said Freeman. "Those big tackles are two gapping and playing more of things you saw him do in the NFL.
Then they go to four down, nickel and those linemen, they look honestly some of the tackles you're like man they look undersized-(but) nobody can block them. They're as athletic and twitchy and they do twist.
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"We got to be on our stuff. We got to be ready, we got to try to look to see if there's some tells and and we got to make sure we stay connected."
Even with that concern, Notre Dame’s own pressure numbers suggest the Irish are equipped for the fight. They rank 7th nationally in sack percentage and 6th in sack percentage allowed, while North Carolina is 25th in sack percentage and 119th in sack percentage against. That puts Billy Edwards Jr. squarely in the crosshairs against an Irish rush backed by NFL-caliber talent in the back seven.
Notre Dame also has a few young players trending up at just the right time. Freshman safety Joey O’Brien, defensive end Rodney Dunham and running back Jonaz Walton all made their mark against Purdue.
The trio combined for five stops, 1.5 sacks from O’Brien and Dunham, 12 aggregate receiving yards allowed against O’Brien, one quarterback hurry from Dunham, and a 44-yard rush from Walton en route to 66 total rushing yards and 37 after contact. Walton is still expected to function as the No. 3 back behind Aneyas Williams and Nolan James, while O’Brien appears set for his second career start, with senior Luke Talich expected to play despite a broken thumb.
Dunham, though, could be the one who makes the biggest impact if North Carolina’s offensive line struggles to hold up against Notre Dame’s wave of defensive ends.
On offense, the Irish have another player on the rise in junior receiver Micah Gilbert. Over the last two games, he has caught 10 passes on 12 targets for 253 yards, with gains of 27 yards for a touchdown, 56, 61, 28 and 39 yards, plus a leaping 39-yard score against Rice. His emergence matters because the Notre Dame passing game needs a reliable second option to stay dangerous.
The target breakdown shows why. Jordan Faison leads with 23 targets and 17 catches, while Gilbert has 18 targets and 15 receptions.
Jaden Greathouse has nine targets and six catches, and Mylan Graham has eight targets, three receptions and two pass interferences drawn. Faison and Gilbert have combined for 564 receiving yards, or 13.7 yards per target.
Greathouse and Graham have combined for 122 yards at 7.17 per target, or 8.9 when the penalties are included.
For Notre Dame, Gilbert’s continued production alongside captain Jordan Faison looks less like a bonus and more like a necessity.
In Other News...
Notre Dame Stayed At No. 3 But A Bigger Concern Is Growing
Notre Dame handled North Carolina 37-26 and kept rolling in the polls, staying at No. 3 in both the AP and Coaches rankings for a fifth straight week. The win also pushed the Irish to 22-2 all time against the Tar Heels, another reminder that the program has usually taken care of business in this matchup even when the game has not always looked clean.
The bigger issue is what comes next, because the ranking steadiness has not quieted the questions around a team that still has to sharpen up before the end of the regular season. With college football around it shifting in the standings and Stanford up next, Notre Dames margin for error is getting thinner, and the next stretch will say a lot more about its national standing than the poll number did this week. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame Had To Earn This One Against Bill Belichick
Bill Belichicks postgame takeaway from North Carolinas 37-26 loss at No. 3 Notre Dame was familiar to anyone who watched it unfold: the Tar Heels were competitive, but they left too much on the field. Notre Dame still had to grind for this one, leaning on a strong rushing attack while quarterback CJ Carr helped steady things for the Irish in a game that stayed uncomfortable longer than the home side probably wanted.
Billy Edwards Jr. gave North Carolina enough offense to keep the pressure on, throwing three touchdown passes in defeat, and that was part of what made this one feel more like a test than a stroll. For Notre Dame, the result matters more than the style points, but it also served as a reminder that even against a team coming in under Belichick, nothing is getting handed over in South Bend. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame Defense Just Got The Wake-Up Call Fans Feared
Notre Dames defense came out of its 37-26 win over North Carolina with plenty to unpack, and not all of it was comfortable. The unit gave up three long touchdown drives, even as it also produced stretches that looked like the kind of disruptive football the Irish have been trying to build around. On the other six Tar Heel possessions, Notre Dame held firm, limiting North Carolina to 41 yards and forcing two interceptions.
Senior safety Luke Talich was right in the middle of it, making an interception and blocking an extra point while playing with a wrist brace. Defensive coordinator Chris Ash still had execution issues to sort through afterward, and the bigger takeaway was less about celebration than correction. For a defense heading into a tougher stretch, the game looked like a reminder that the floor is higher when the unit is focused, but the margin for error is still too thin to ignore. [Read more 🡒]