No. 6 Notre Dame Overcomes Slow Start, Beats UMass, 62-27
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — No. 6 Notre Dame was struggling with winless Massachusetts until an electrifying 50-yard punt return by C.J. Sanders.
Sanders cut at the 35-yard line to avoid two Minutemen defenders and made another cut at the 10 before racing into the end zone with 3:21 left in the first half to give the Fighting Irish a 28-20 lead.
They never looked back.
DeShone Kizer threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Chris Brown with 6 seconds left in the first half to give the Irish a 35-20 halftime lead. C.J. Prosise, who rushed for 149 yards and two touchdowns, added a 16-yard scoring run and freshman Dexter Williams added a 14-yard TD run to break open the game as the Irish won 62-27.
Marquis Young had an 83-yard touchdown run for the Minutemen, and Sekai Lindsay and Jamal Wilson added 1-yard TD runs and Shakur Nesmith added a 33-yard TD catch in the fourth quarter.
Notre Dame improved to 4-0 for the second straight season, the third time in six seasons under coach Brian Kelly. Massachusetts fell to 0-3 for the fourth straight season since moving up to the FBS level.
The 62 points were the most by the Irish since a 62-0 win over Rutgers in 1996 in Lou Holtz's final home game as Notre Dame coach.
The Irish rushed for 457 yards, marking the fourth straight game of rushing for more than 200 yards.
DeShone Kizer was 15-of-22 passing for 207 yards with two touchdowns and one interception and freshman quarterback Brandon Wimbush was 3 of 5 passing for 17 yards and scored on a 58-yard run late in the third quarter. Will Fuller added his sixth touchdown catch of the season for the Irish.
The Irish got backups in on both offense and defense in the second half, giving starters some rest heading into the game at No. 11 Clemson on Saturday.
Massachusetts burned the Notre Dame defense for several big plays to keep the game closer than expected throughout most of the first half.
Blake Frohnapfel was 20 of 40 passing for 233 yards with one interception and Tajae Sharpe had eight catches for 83 yards. Backup Ross Comis was 8-of-8 passing for 69 yards with a touchdown as the Minutemen finished with 450 yards total offense.
The Irish had trouble putting the Minutemen away until a punt by Tyler Newsome was downed on the Massachusetts 1-yard line with the Irish leading 21-20. The Irish held Massachusetts to one yard on three plays, leading to Sanders' punt return.
The Minutemen drove to the 46 on their next possession, but after a pair of incomplete passes by Frohnapfel, he was sacked for a 13-yard loss by Irish defensive lineman Sheldon Day. The Irish drove 10 plays in 1:21, with Kizer throwing a 7-yard touchdown pass to Brown in the end zone.
Prosise got the Irish going early with a 57-yard touchdown run. He appeared to be stopped for no gain when he suddenly halted, cut to the inside, broke to the outside and ran up the left sideline before diving in for the score. He became the first Notre Dame player with three straight 100-yard games since Darius Walker did it in 2005.
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