Tag: Ryan Fitzgerald

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.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

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.