No. 1 Miami's offense meets Notre Dame's defense

Both win big, Notre Dame stops more drives

Against Power 4 opponents, Notre Dame is +142 in point margin, second nationally, and Miami is +120, third.

Against Power 4 opponents, Notre Dame ends 64.9% of its drives with points, second nationally, and Miami does so on 59.4%, fourth. The gap opens on defense: Notre Dame stops 72.9% of drives without a score, fourth, and Miami stops 67.2%, 20th. Miami allows 22.0 points and 373 yards a game, ranking 22nd and 31st.

Against Power 4 opponents, Notre Dame succeeds on 51.4% of its snaps, third nationally, and Miami on 49.4%, seventh. Notre Dame holds opponents to a 37.8% success rate, 13th, and Miami allows 41.4%, 33rd. Miami holds the ball 34:13 a game, the most in the country, with Notre Dame seventh at 33:06. The Hurricanes are +4 in turnover margin, 11th nationally.

Where it's decided

When Miami has the ball, it throws for 310 yards a game against Power 4 opponents, fourth nationally, and leads the country with a 56.6% passing success rate. Notre Dame allows 185 passing yards a game, eighth, though its 42.0% pass defense success rate ranks 39th. Miami converts 53.9% of its third downs, the best rate in the nation, and Notre Dame allows conversions on 42.7%, 50th.

Against Power 4 opponents, the Miami run game faces a harder wall. The Hurricanes run for 165 yards a game, 19th nationally, with a 42.2% success rate, 31st. Notre Dame allows 68 rushing yards a game, the fewest in the country, and holds runs to a 32.4% success rate, third.

Javian Mallory leads Miami in rushing yards with 495 on 71 carries, with 7 touchdowns. Mark Fletcher Jr. has 457 yards and 9 touchdowns, and he has scored a rushing touchdown in 6 straight games. Drayk Bowen leads Notre Dame with 45 tackles, and Boubacar Traore leads the Irish with 3.5 sacks, adding 5.5 tackles for loss and an interception.

When Notre Dame has the ball, it runs for 194 yards a game against Power 4 opponents, eighth nationally, with a 52.3% success rate that ranks third. Miami allows 71 rushing yards a game, second, and a 34.3% success rate on runs, ninth.

Notre Dame returns 12% of its 2025 rushing yards, after Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price took 2,046 of them to the NFL. Nolan James Jr. leads Notre Dame in rushing yards with 519 and 8 touchdowns, and his totals have climbed in 4 straight games, from 28 to 65, 73, 77 and 107 against Navy last week. Jonaz Walton adds 477 yards.

Against Power 4 opponents, Notre Dame scores 39.3 points a game, third nationally, and gains 440 yards, 12th. CJ Carr leads Notre Dame in passing yards with 1,849, with 18 touchdowns, 1 interception and a 66.7 completion percentage. The Irish throw for 245 yards a game, 27th, with a 50.3% passing success rate, seventh. Miami allows 301 passing yards a game, 79th, and a 45.4% success rate on passes, 62nd.

Jordan Faison leads Notre Dame in receiving yards with 497 and in catches with 38, and Micah Gilbert has 430 yards on 24 catches. Notre Dame returned 35% of its 2025 receiving yards.

Malachi Toney's chase

Malachi Toney leads FBS with 73 catches, and his 1,027 yards lead Miami and rank third in FBS. His 13 touchdown catches are tied for second in FBS. Toney needs 2 catches to reach 75 this season and 2 touchdown catches to reach 15, which would also give him 25 for his career. He is one of 7 FBS players with a 200-yard receiving game this season, and one of 3 with two or more touchdown catches in four games, along with Oregon State's Jesse Legree and Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith.

Darian Mensah replaced Carson Beck

Carson Beck threw for 3,813 yards for Miami in 2025, then went to Arizona in the third round, 65th overall. Miami returned 2% of its 2025 passing yards and brought in Darian Mensah from Duke. Mensah leads Miami in passing yards with 2,425, with 25 touchdowns, 1 interception and 109 rushing yards. His 80.7 completion percentage leads FBS, his 25 touchdown passes lead the ACC, and his 27 total touchdowns are tied for third in FBS. Mensah has thrown a touchdown pass in 26 straight games, and Miami scores 47.6 points a game in all games, up from 30.9 last season.

Miami's road record against the top 5

Miami's last road win over a top-5 team came in 2005 against No. 3 Virginia Tech, and it is 0-6 in those games since. The Hurricanes have won 7 straight road games, dating to 2025, and 7 straight night games. Miami scores 39.3 points a game on the road this season and 56 at home. Notre Dame's last home win over a No. 1 team came in 2020, against No. 1 Clemson.

Notre Dame protects a lead

Notre Dame has won its last 45 games when leading at halftime, dating to 2022. The Irish have outscored Power 4 opponents 67-20 in the fourth quarter this season. Notre Dame has scored an offensive touchdown in 100 straight games and has scored in 17 straight quarters across 4 games.

Transfers, a coordinator and the draft

Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock's offenses have ranked in the top 13% of FBS in EPA a play in a typical season across his 10 seasons as a coordinator, with a best of No. 1 at LSU in 2023.

Cooper Barkate also transferred to Miami from Duke, and he is second on the Hurricanes in receiving yards with 372 and 4 touchdowns. Miami added edge Damon Wilson II from Missouri, defensive lineman Keona Davis from Nebraska and safety Omar Thornton from Boston College. Notre Dame brought in defensive linemen Francis Brewu from Pittsburgh, Tionne Gray from Oregon and Keon Keeley from Alabama, plus receiver Quincy Porter from Ohio State and cornerback Jayden Sanders from Michigan.

Miami returned 36% of its 2025 sacks. Marquise Lightfoot leads Miami with 7 sacks, and his two games with two or more sacks are tied for the third-most in FBS. Mohamed Toure leads the Hurricanes with 44 tackles.

Miami had 9 players drafted, including 2 offensive tackles, 2 edge rushers and an offensive guard, with 3 in the first two rounds. All of those early picks came in the first round: tackle Francis Mauigoa went 10th overall to New York, edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. 15th to Tampa Bay and edge rusher Akheem Mesidor 22nd to Los Angeles. Notre Dame had 6 players drafted, among them 2 running backs, a tight end and an offensive guard, with Love going third overall to Arizona and Price 32nd to Seattle.

Lightfoot back, Buchanan out

Mario Cristobal said Oct. 12 that Marquise Lightfoot was "all the way back" after the bye week, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Lightfoot had left the Clemson game with an undisclosed injury.

Miami starting right guard Max Buchanan had surgery after a left knee injury at Clemson, and Cristobal said Oct. 12 that he is out, hopefully back later in the year, according to Yahoo Sports. Starting right tackle Matthew McCoy hurt his shoulder at Clemson but finished the game, and Cristobal said he was fine and good to go, according to Sports Illustrated.

Miami defensive back Ja'Boree Antoine and tight end Luka Gilbert were listed Out on the ACC availability report for the last 6 games, and defensive back Romanas "OJ" Frederique Jr. for the last 5. Running back CharMar Brown and receiver Joshua Moore were listed Out for the last 4. The ACC report for this game is not out yet.

Home field has decided this series

Notre Dame leads the series 18-9-1 in 28 meetings since 1955, the year Paul Hornung was a Notre Dame All-American. The home team has won the last 9 meetings, dating to 1985, when Miami went 10-2 with All-America tight end Willie Smith and Notre Dame went 5-6.

Notre Dame is 11-1-1 at home against Miami. The Hurricanes last won at Notre Dame Stadium in 1984, a season they finished 8-5 with All-America receiver Eddie Brown, while Notre Dame went 7-5.

Miami won the last meeting 27-24 at home in 2025. That Miami team went 13-3, and Rueben Bain Jr. won the Ted Hendricks Defensive End Award and joined Francis Mauigoa as an All-American. Notre Dame went 10-2 that season, and Jeremiyah Love won the Doak Walker Award as a unanimous All-American, with defensive back Leonard Moore also a unanimous pick.

Three things to watch

Watch the red zone: against Power 4 opponents, Miami scores on 96.4% of red zone trips, ninth nationally, and Notre Dame allows scores on 92.9%, 71st, while the Miami red zone defense ranks fourth at 70.0%.

Miami against strong defenses: the Hurricanes succeeded on 43.9% of snaps against Wake Forest and Pittsburgh, the top-25 defenses they have faced, against 53.6% in all games.

Notre Dame's path: against Power 4 opponents, the Irish are +10 in turnover margin, third nationally, and are penalized 31 yards a game, fourth, while Miami is penalized 60, 50th.