SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame punter Tyler Newsome pinned back Massachusetts, and returner C.J. Sanders got the sixth-ranked Fighting Irish going. After Newsome placed a 52-yard punt on the Massachusetts 1, the Fighting Irish defense held the Minutemen to a yard on three plays and Sanders answered with a 50-yard punt return that helped spark Notre Dame to the 62-27 victory Saturday. Sanders cut at the 35 to avoid two Minutemen and made another cut at the 10 before racing into the end zone with 3:21 left in the first half to give the Irish a 28-20 lead. "The special team work was outstanding," said Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, pointing out Sanders especially. "He's a very shifty runner. He's got great vision. It was a big play. It gave us momentum, certainly." EDITOR'S PICKS Notre Dame runs over UMass after slow start, sets up Clemson showdown Rapid Reaction from Notre Dame's 62-27 victory over UMass, as the Fighting Irish overcame a slow start to set up a showdown at Clemson next week. Defensive lineman Sheldon Day agreed. "Just to see that little guy run, it definitely brought us a lot of excitement on the defense," he said. UMass safety Trey Dudley-Giles said it had the opposite effect for the Minutemen. "It just killed our momentum," he said. DeShone Kizer threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Chris Brown with 6 seconds left in the first half to give the Irish a 35-20 halftime lead. C.J. Prosise, who rushed for 149 yards and two touchdowns, added a 16-yard scoring run and freshman Dexter Williams added a 14-yard TD run to break open the game. Marquis Young had an 83-yard touchdown run for the Minutemen, and Sekai Lindsay and Jamal Wilson added 1-yard TD runs and Shakur Nesmith added a 33-yard TD catch in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame improved to 4-0 for the second straight season, the third time in six seasons under coach Brian Kelly. Massachusetts fell to 0-3 for the fourth straight season since moving up to the FBS level. The