SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- As Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman spoke at his news conference late Saturday, he caught a glimpse of safety Luke Talich encouraging the crowd outside and smiled.
"Enjoy it!" Freeman told Talich and the other players as they entered the media room. "Y'all earned it!"
Notre Dame's 31-24 win against No. 1 Miami wasn't like the others the team had earned this season. The stakes couldn't have been higher for the Irish, who had lost their other signature game Oct. 17 at BYU and were slotted at No. 11 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings. A second loss, especially to a Hurricanes team playing without its best player, wide receiver Malachi Toney (ankle), and Notre Dame's motto to "leave no doubt" about its national status might have been over in disgrace.
Freeman highlighted the history of the Miami series with players leading up to Saturday's game, showing video of the excitement around the teams' iconic 1988 clash at Notre Dame Stadium. He stressed "no success without struggle" and braced for a Miami rally, which came with Notre Dame leading 24-3 in the second half.
Despite several stressful moments, including a Talich breakup of a potential tying touchdown by Miami tight end Elija Lofton, Notre Dame got the win it absolutely had to have.
"This is big. This is special," Freeman said. "I'm not going to sit here and say this is like the other ones. No, this is different. There was a lot of emotion, a lot of physical preparation, mental preparation, we put into this. I want them to enjoy it."
Freeman guided Notre Dame to the program's 10th win against an AP top-ranked opponent, second most among FBS teams, and called Saturday's triumph "as special of a moment, as special of an outcome that I've been a part of since I've been the head coach here." Notre Dame fans streamed onto the field afterward to celebrate.
"They kept trying to like usher me over to talk to people," quarterback CJ Carr said. "I'm like, 'Dude, let me go celebrate this sucker. We earned this thing. Let's go hang out with the crowd and our teammates.'"
Carr propelled Notre Dame to its big lead, firing two touchdown passes to Micah Gilbert and another to Jordan Faison, and making confident throws and quick decisions to evade Miami defenders. He finished with 319 passing yards and no interceptions, avoiding mistakes that had plagued him in the BYU loss and last year, when he made his first career start at Miami in a 27-24 defeat.
"A huge difference," Carr said of the player he has become. "My dad called me before this game said he'd watched that game, and his words were: It was a boy playing at Miami for my first start."
Last year's defeat against the Hurricanes ultimately factored into the CFP race, as Miami leapfrogged Notre Dame for the final spot despite the Irish looking dominant during a 10-game win streak to end the regular season. Notre Dame entered this season with not only aspirations to return to the CFP but also realistic hopes that it could win its first national title since 1988.
A loss Saturday night likely would have wiped everything away.
"We knew that our backs were against the wall," Talich said. "This was a get-back game for us in a way. We felt like we left it up to the [playoff] judges last year, and we knew that we couldn't do that this year. It was a huge momentum game."
Notre Dame stifled a Toney-less Miami in the first half with a ferocious pass rush led by defensive end Boubacar Traore, who was ejected for targeting minutes into the BYU loss. But when the Hurricanes started to attack Notre Dame's man coverage, especially when All-America cornerback Leonard Moore left the field after being poked in the eye, Notre Dame had to switch to zone.
"We got to the point where it's the definition of insanity," Freeman said. "If we keep playing man coverage, this thing won't stop. So we had to adjust at that point and start playing some zone and mix in some man."
Notre Dame's defense was down several starters and on its heels for much of the second half, but Talich stepped up, intercepting Mensah to set up a touchdown drive and jarring the ball loose from Lofton on a play that drew heavy criticism from Miami coach Mario Cristobal but was upheld on review.
Freeman had told players to use the initial CFP standings to help them lock in for the game. But ultimately, all that matters is how Notre Dame builds on Saturday's triumph.
"We learned that last year, it doesn't matter what you're ranked until the last week, and that's the truth," Freeman said. "We don't need to focus on it. We don't need to talk about it. Our job was to leave no doubt today, and they [did not]."