Four quick thoughts from No. 11 Notre Dame football's last-minute escape from Duke

DURHAM, N.C. — Four thoughts after the No. 11 Notre Dame football/ESPN College GameDay road show rolled through Durham, North Carolina on Saturday for a game against No. 17 Duke, won by Notre Dame, 21-14, at Wallace Wade Stadium. 

∎ Notre Dame ventured down North Carolina way for the second time in September and back into Atlantic Coast Conference play, where a Big Ten bruiser broke out. It wasn't until Audric Estime busted a 30-yard touchdown run with 31 seconds left in the game that Notre Dame could take a sigh of relief. That was two plays after Irish QB Sam Hartman scrambled for 17 yards on fourth-and-16 to keep the Irish hopes alive.

It was Notre Dame's 30th consecutive regular-season win over an ACC opponent.

So much for the Irish leaving that league behind them the previous week. This felt so Big Ten-ish. LSU-Ole Miss this one wasn’t. Duke took its first lead (14-13) with 9:17 left in a contest that featured a lot of yards, a lot of penalties (by Notre Dame), missed field goals and too many stalled-out or sputtered drives. 

After three, the Irish had the lead but were hanging on by a thread, 13-7. Notre Dame did a whole lot right but did a lot wrong. It was one of those hold-on-to-the-end kind of nights. Would the Irish hang on? Or find a way?

∎ One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11. See, it’s not that hard. You can defend with 11. Not committing a penalty, now that was another story, especially in the first half when the Irish offense was tagged with four false starts. Notre Dame committed nine penalties for 45 yards through three quarters. Duke committed one for 15 yards. That was a big one late in the third, a personal foul that gave the Irish a first down. 

Can’t let the home team hang around like that. 

∎ Notre Dame really needed more points than the 10 it mustered in the first half. The Irish touchdown was set up by a fake punt while their field goal was made possible by a Xavier Watts interception. 

Anytime the Irish offense wanted to look like the Irish offense of the first four games, fine by everyone. The thing is, Notre Dame moved the ball and had 199 yards at halftime, 261 after three. But you’ve got to get more — do more — than what they got. 

∎ No way College GameDay heads to the ‘Ville, site of Notre Dame’s next night game, right? Hopefully no, if only for some normalcy, or as normal as it can be for an Irish team that will play its third straight night game, also against an undefeated opponent after Louisville moved to 5-0 with a win Friday at North Carolina State. This Notre Dame team may be running on fumes by then, if it's not already. 

Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact: (574) 235-6153.