Notre Dame vs. Florida State: First-Quarter Analysis

The Irish have the lead. That’s the important thing.

Notre Dame is facing a Florida State team that has nothing to play for but pride the rest of the season. Opponents with nothing left to lose often are the most dangerous. Despite a 7-3 Irish lead after the first quarter, the Seminoles have shown they won’t be pushovers.

The Irish needed only 103 seconds to get the scoring going. The middle of their first drive featuring a 28-yard completion from [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] to [autotag]Aneyas Williams[/autotag]. It culminated with Leonard running 34 years for the game’s first touchdown.

The Seminoles’ first possession took almost half the quarter, though that was helped by an Irish defensive penalty on fourth down. Though the Seminoles got to the Irish 4-yard line, they only could muster a Ryan Fitzgerald chip-shot field goal to get them on the board.

After that, there was a whole lot of nothing with four consecutive three-and-outs, two apiece for the teams. [autotag]Jadarian Price[/autotag] broke that streak with a first-down run in the final minute. He did so without [autotag]Anthonie Knapp,[/autotag] the Irish’s starting left tackle who went to the bench with a currently undisclosed injury during the quarter.

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