(Notre Dame) — The rumors of the demise of Notre Dame’s defense have been greatly exaggerated.

The Irish defense turned in their third straight sparkling performance, and #16 Notre Dame garnered its fourth straight win with a solid 36-7 victory over North Carolina State Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium.

Defensive coordinator Chris Ash, who was oft-maligned in the first three games of the season, has seen a dramatic turnaround with his group. After the Irish allowed 91 points in the first 10 quarters of the season, they have only allowed 34 points in the last 14.

“There were two options,” recalls Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman. “You can blame or you can come together, you double down, you fix it and you work tirelessly to take it to another level. That’s what he did. I give him the credit as the leader and the players the credit for the buy-in.”

The Irish came firing out on their first possession, with Jeremiyah Love capping a six-play, 58-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown to make it 7-0 Irish. The offense sputtered the rest of the half, failing on two fourth-down opportunities in the red zone.

Meanwhile, NC State hit a 45-yard bomb from CJ Bailey to Terrell Anderson early in the 2nd quarter to tie the game at 7. A 48-yard field goal by Noah Burnette gave the Irish a 10-7 advantage at halftime, and compelled Freeman to deliver a message.

“Stop beating Notre Dame,” said Freeman matter-of-factly. “It’s easy for me to say it, but we have to continue to train our minds the right way and execute. We did. It wasn’t perfect in the second half, but we just keep battling.”

Notre Dame finally broke it open in the third quarter with two touchdown passes from redshirt freshman quarterback C.J. Carr. First, K.K. Smith caught his first career score from 18 yards out to make it 17-7. Then Carr hooked up with captain Will Pauling on a 12-yard route to make it 24-7.  Carr finished 19-of-31 for 342 yards.

“I thought he played awesome today,” said tight end Eli Raridon, who caught seven passes for 109 yards. “We just didn’t capitalize on opportunities. I’ve never seen a quarterback see the field the way CJ does. His IQ for the game is something I’ve never seen.”

Raridon’s 36-yard catch in the fourth that set up Love’s second touchdown of the game, a one-yard jaunt. Pauling finished with four catches for 105 yards, giving the Irish two 100-yard receivers for the first time since the 2022 Fiesta Bowl.

Meanwhile, the Irish defense made things miserable for the Wolfpack’s Bailey, collecting three interceptions in the second half, with Adon Shuler, Kyngston Villiamu-Asa and Carson Hobbs all pilfering passes.

“Just playing as one,” said a humble Boubacar Traore, who collected two sacks. “When we rush as one and play together, good things happen. Whenever the defense is down, the offense has our back and we’ve got to do the same. The brotherhood we have allows us to complement each other.”

Notre Dame is now 4-2 with a primetime matchup with archrival USC slated for next Saturday night at the Stadium.