Those who figured the two-week layoff would hurt Notre Dame against Florida State were correct early. Kyren Williams lost a fumble on his first carry of the game, and it cost the Irish an early field goal. Williams more than made up for it on the Irish’s subsequent possessions. Still, the Irish find themselves behind, 17-14, after the first quarter.
On the first play of Notre Dame’s second possession, Williams took advantage of a nice block from Tommy Tremble and ran 65 yards to the Florida State 10-yard line. That set up an 8-yard touchdown reception for Michael Mayer. One Seminoles punt later, Ian Book made a few nice passes before Williams ran the ball 46 yards to the house to give the Irish a 14-3 lead.
The Irish looked like they would hold that advantage after forcing a three-and-out, but Lawrence Keys III muffed a punt, and the Seminoles were more than happy to take over deep in Irish territory. That’s because all Jordan Travis had to do was call two run plays before running into the end zone himself from 4 yards out.
The Irish failed to pick up a first down on their next possession, really looking out of sync. When the Seminoles got the ball back, they decided to switch from attacking on the ground to doing so in the air. Travis completed three of four passes, targeting leading receiver Tamorrion Terry three times. The final pass went 48 yards to Terry, who ran into the end zone and gave the Seminoles the lead back.
It was a quarter of both good and bad for the Irish, and most of the bad easily could have been avoided had they held onto the ball. Brian Kelly better figure out how to keep his guys on their toes because that extra time off seems to be taking a toll. At least they have enough time to figure things out. Still, Irish fans are in shock.