Notre Dame at Florida State: Overtime Analysis

Whew.

They say it’s better to be lucky than good. We’ll find out as the season goes on if Notre Dame is both. For now, it will be satisfied with a 41-38 overtime win on the road over Florida State.

The Irish (1-0) won the coin toss and chose to defer to the Seminoles (0-1). After handing it off to Jashaun Corbin twice, McKenzie Milton appeared to fumble the ball after losing a bunch of yardage, setting up Ryan Fitzgerald for a 50-yard field goal attempt. Just before the ball was snapped, Seminoles coach Mike Norvell challenged the previous ruling, hoping for it to be changed to an incomplete pass to get Fitzgerald closer. Though Norvell eventually got the ruling he wanted to give Fitzgerald a 37-yard attempt instead, the long wait ended up icing his own kicker, who missed the field goal wide left.

All the Irish had to do was hold onto the ball to set up Jonathan Doerer. They didn’t advance very far, forcing Doerer to kick from 41 yards. Still, it was close enough because Doerer split the upright, and the Irish escaped with a victory that nearly slipped away.

Notre Dame at Florida State: Fourth-Quarter Analysis

Oh boy.

They never said college football was easy. Sometimes, you find yourself in a battle you didn’t want. That’s what Notre Dame found itself in Sunday. Eighteen unanswered points by Florida State have sent this game to overtime with a 38-38 score.

The fourth quarter began with the Seminoles knocking on the door of the end zone. A couple of defensive stands and a penalty pushed the offense back from the 1-yard line to the 8. On third-and-goal, Jordan Travis avoided the defense and found Andrew Parchment for a touchdown. A successful two-point conversion pass to Keyshawn Helton cut the Irish’s lead to 38-28.

Relying mainly on the run, the Irish only were able to get one first down on their first possession of the fourth quarter. Jay Bramblett was knocked down on the ensuing punt, but the roughing penalty only went for 5 yards, much to the chagrin of an enraged Brian Kelly. Whether there should have been a 15-yard penalty instead will be debated. What’s not debatable is that things everything was coming up Seminoles.

On the ensuing drive, Travis’ helmet was knocked off, which forced the Seminoles to go to McKenzie Milton for his first game action in three years. All he did with this sudden opportunity was complete all four pass attempts before handing it off to Treshaun Ward for an 8-yard touchdown to make it 38-35. What once seemed like a sure victory now was anything but.

Desperately needing a long offensive possession, the Irish went three-and-out save for an offside penalty on first down. Jack Coan was sacked by Keir Thomas on the final play of the drive, sending Doak Campbell Stadium into a frenzy. The Irish fans in attendance only could brace for what was to come.

Milton continued his heroics with a run-heavy attack that the Irish’s defense simply couldn’t stop. The only thing that stopped him from reaching the end zone was a bad snap on third-and-6 from the Notre Dame 25. He threw the ball out of bounds to set up Ryan Fitzgerald for a 43-yard field-goal attempt. The kick was good, and the game was tied with 40 seconds left.

With time running out, Coan completed a couple of passes to Michael Mayer to get into Seminoles territory. A crushing blow happened when Mayer dropped a pass with five seconds left that would have set up a game-winning field goal. A Hail Mary with the clock expired was picked off by Travis Jay, and to extra football we go.