The No. 16 Notre Dame Fighting Irish overcame a sluggish middle portion of the game to defeat the North Carolina Wolfpack 36-7 on Saturday.

The Irish moved the ball well early, shot themselves in the foot with two poor fourth-down play calls in the red zone and some penalties, and then the offense and defense got untracked in the second half. The score was 10-7 at halftime after Notre Dame barely made a field goal with time running out. Then the second half was all Notre Dame.

Here are the five stars for Notre Dame.

5 ⭐️ – Defense

Yes, NC State doesn’t pack a ton of firepower. But the Wolfpack have an accurate QB, an elusive runner, and had, at least until he left with injury, a deep threat at receiver in Terrell Anderson. But the Irish held running back Hollywood Smothers in check and picked off Wolfpack quarterback CJ Bailey threetimes. The pass rush got home four times.

It wasn’t perfect, and the defense looked competent but unremarkable in the first half before becoming unleashed, but it did look like 2024 at times.

4 ⭐️ – Jeremiyah Love

Notre Dame’s Heisman candidate running back didn’t crack 100 yards — he had 86 — but he had two more touchdowns and a long of 24 yards. He continued to show, at least in flashes, why he’s in Heisman contention.

He may have more yardage if the Irish hadn’t rested him in favor of Jadarian Price for a decent chunk of the game.

3 ⭐️ – CJ Carr

Quarterback CJ Carr had one of his more “average” days — and he still tossed two touchdown passes and was 19-of-31 for 342 yards. Plus several explosive/chunk pass plays.

Even his one interception should’ve arguably been negated by defensive pass interference.

2 ⭐️ – Will Pauling/Eli Raridon (tie)

While only Pauling had a touchdown, both were over 100 yards receiving, and Raridon had seven catches, including the one below.

Another Irish TOUCHDOWN.

Carr finds Raridon. Love finishes the drive for the Irish. #GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/t7xr3m5zDe

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) October 11, 2025

Really, the entire receiving corps had a good day. KK Smith had his first career TD, Jordan Faison had a couple of nice catches, and even Malachi Fields’ only catch was for 20 yards.

1 ⭐️ – Jadarian Price

One star sometimes means bad, sometimes means good but not as good as the other four stars, and sometimes a mix. Price’s day was mixed. Fifteen carries for 66 yards seems ho-hum for Price, who has been a key driver of the Notre Dame offense, and he also didn’t score. He fumbled on the doorstep of the NC State goalline.

But he had a long of 20 yards and some other chunk runs. He and Love were bottled up at times by a Wolfpack defense focused on stopping them, but they still helped power the Notre Dame offense — and wear down NC State.

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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: These are the five stars from Notre Dame’s 36-7 win over NC State