Notre Dame wasted no time making its presence known in Sunday’s season opener against Florida State. When you’re able to put up a quick score on offense and start out suffocating the quarterback on defense, good things are going to happen. However, bad things can happen, too, and that’s why the Irish are faced with a 7-7 tie after the first quarter.
Jack Coan connected with Michael Mayer, the Irish’s top returning receiver, on a 25-yard completion on the game’s first play from scrimmage to advance the ball to midfield. The offense soon was faced with a fourth-and-1, and Tommy Rees decided it was a good-time to test out his unit’s ability in that situation. So far, that ability appears to be good as Coan took advantage of a broken Seminoles coverage to complete another pass to Mayer, who ran 41 yards for the Irish’s first touchdown of the season.
The Irish had to punt on their next two offensive possessions, and it turned out they should have done more with those opportunities. Jordan Travis, who was named the Seminoles’ starting quarterback mere moments before his team took the field, had trouble moving the football, let alone getting beyond his own red zone. With his offense only moving backwards, it appeared the Irish’s defense was in control. That all changed when Jashaun Corbin, the Seminoles’ top returning running back, took a handoff at his team’s 11-yard line, broke a couple of tackles and was off to the races via an 89-yard game-tying touchdown run.
The Irish’s next turn on offense went better, and they were faced with another fourth-and-1 in Seminoles territory. Coan completed a short pass to Kyren Williams, but a measurement determined he fell down just short of the first-down marker.
We’re already being reminded of how quickly momentum can change in college football. That confidence isn’t quite there right now, is it?