Notre Dame's Everett Golson threw for 300 yards for the second time in three weeks to lead the Irish to a wild 50-43 win over North Carolina.
The win sets up a gigantic game for the Irish next week at Florida State.
Golson was 21-of-38 and threw three TD passes as the Irish hit the 50-point mark for the first time since the 2012 opener (50-10 over Navy). It was his third career 300-yard outing, and he also ran for 71 yards. Golson has attempted at least 34 passes in each of the past five games and at least 38 in four consecutive games.
Golson has 16 TD passes and also has rushed for four scores this season; in 2012, when he guided the Irish to the BCS national championship game, he accounted for 18 TDs all season.
But Golson also committed three turnovers (two fumbles and an interception, which was returned for a TD), which means he has committed nine turnovers in the past three games. He didn't commit any in the first three games.
Golson threw TD passes in the first, third and fourth quarters in helping the Irish become the third team to score at least 50 points on the Tar Heels this season (East Carolina and Clemson also did it). Will Fuller caught two of the scoring tosses; he finished the game with seven receptions for 133 yards. Fuller has seven TD catches this season.
Notre Dame had lost 16 consecutive games when allowing at least 35 points. UNC led 36-35 going into the fourth quarter, but didn't score again until there were just 47 seconds remaining in the game.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
