Strong Second Half Fuels Notre Dame In Season Opening Win Over Wisconsin

Green Bay, Wis. - It took Notre Dame a little while to get going in Saturday night's long-awaited season opener. But the Fighting Irish finally found their groove in the second half to put away Wisconsin 41-13 at historic Lambeau Field.

After a pedestrian first half that saw the Irish gain just 135 yards, they combined to gain 145 yards on their first two drives that each ended in touchdowns. Aneyas Williams ran for just 18 yards in the first half but finished with 90 yards on 20 carries. Meanwhile, CJ Carr was solid but not spectacular, going 19 of 29 for 239 yards and two touchdowns through the air to help the Irish open the season.

Notre Dame's defense gave up just 284 yards of offense to the Badgers. Wisconsin quarterback Colton Joseph , who ran for over 1,000 yards at Old Dominion last year, was held to three yards on 12 carries while passing for 217 yards.

Notre Dame's defense forced a 3-and-out to start the game, but the Irish offense was out it three plays of its own on its first possession. Carr was sacked by Sebastian Cheek on 3rd down and Jasper Scaife 's first career punt was blocked, giving the Badgers the ball at the Irish 37. Wisconsin would settle for a 27-yard field goal from Gavin Lahm for the game's first points.

The Irish offense came back with quick passes from Carr along with a handful of short runs by Williams. They drove to the Badger 34 before Spencer Porath booted a 52-yard field goal to tie the game 3-3.

Wisconsin return man Darrion Dupree muffed the ensuing kickoff and Kahanu Kia recovered at the Badger 13. Carr hit Green Bay native James Flanigan with a 3-yard touchdown pass four plays later to put the Irish on top 10-3.

Another Badger 3-and-out was softened by a booming 70-yard punt by Sean West that trickled out of bounds just in front of the end zone pylon, pinning the Irish at their own 1. Scaife punted cleanly from the back of the Irish end zone, giving Wisconsin the ball at the Irish 48.

After a personal foul on Armel Mukam moved the ball to the Irish 28, Joseph hit a wide open Malichi Coleman in the end zone to tie the game. Irish cornerback Jayden Sanders , who had a pair of pass breakups on Wisconsin's previous possession, bit on a double move by Coleman and couldn't recover. The touchdown tied the game at 10-10.

Fueled by consecutive pass plays of 18 and 30 yards to Gilbert and Faison, respectively, the Irish drove to the Badger 8 before settling for a 26-yard field goal from Porath go back up 13-10.

After being outgained 143-135 in total yards in the first half and leading by just a field goal, the Irish started the second half with the ball and marched 70 yards in nine plays en-route to a 3-yard Williams touchdown run to go up 20-10.

Wisconsin moved the ball near midfield on its ensuing drive, but DJ McKinney , an offseason transfer from Colorado, snagged an errant pass from Joseph and sailed to the endzone untouched for a 55-yard touchdown return that put the Irish up 27-10.

Moments before McKinney's pick-6, Notre Dame announced that safety Brauntae Johnson and defensive tackle Jason Onye would be out for the rest of the night's game. Irish head coach Marcus Freeman did not update their statuses after the game.

The Badgers followed that with a 36-yard field goal. The used 8:38 on the clock to drive 47 yards on 14 plays during the drive. Notre Dame followed with an 8-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, capped by a second Williams TD run from five yards out to make it a 34-13 lead with 10:48 remaining.

Fellow Irish running back Nolan James capped the night's scoring with a 28-yard touchdown catch. It marked the first TD of the sophomore running back's career.