FSU Survives Notre Dame

Describing FSU’s big win over Notre Dame.

The Florida State Seminoles remained undefeated tonight by outlasting the Notre Dame Fighting Irish by a score of 31-27 in a nail-biter at Doak S. Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. The ‘Noles didn’t earn their first lead until the fourth quarter, and the Irish had a very realistic shot at winning the game in the final minute, but the FSU defense again showed its ability to play strong situational football, and it held when it needed to in order to secure the Seminole win.

The Line of Scrimmage

It all starts up front, of course, and the Irish dominated the trenches. Freshman Dalvin Cook got the surprise start for FSU but had little running room and was routinely met by a Notre Dame defender in the backfield; he finished with just 20 yards on 12 carries, for an average of 1.7 YPC. Karlos Williams ran well after he finally entered the game in the second quarter, but lanes were few and far between for the Seminole running backs. Williams only had 25 yards on 8 carries, but he did find the end zone twice on a couple gritty efforts.

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The passing attack suffered as well early on, as Winston often had someone in his face while trying to unload the ball. His decision making was off at times at the onset, particularly regarding his first-half interception that resulted from a back heel lob toward Nick O’Leary. How much heat did Winston face? Well, for the first time in his career at Florida State, the opposing QB threw for more yards than Winston, as Golson out-passed him 313-273. After a shaky start, though, Winston was the superior quarterback in the second half, completing 15 of 16 and leading the comeback victory.

The Irish, on the other hand, maintained an efficient running game throughout, opening up nice holes in the middle of the defense. They rushed 35 times for 157 yards, a 4.5 yard average. Notre Dame’s ability to consistently produce positive yardage on the ground kept them ahead of the chains for much of the game; they routinely faced makable third down situations, and, as a result, they converted on 7-18 third down chances, while FSU hit on just 2-8 opportunities.

Momentum

For much of the night, FSU struggled with success– momentum seemed anathema to the ‘Noles. After a Tyler Hunter blitz resulted in a Jacob Pugh interception and gave the defense a much-needed first-half rest, the aforementioned Winston pick occurred on the very next play.

After the Seminoles’ second fourth-down stop, in the second quarter, the offense took over at midfield but could only muster a field goal. The ‘Noles came out on fire in the second half, rolling down and scoring on a Rashad Greene touchdown catch to tie things up at 17, which was followed by a kick coverage hit, courtesy of Reggie Northrup, that literally knocked the helmet of the Irish return man. With Doak at a fever pitch, however, Golson then completed a 23-yard pass to a wide open Ben Koyack, to initiate what would be a TD drive.

And at the end of the game, with the crowd at its loudest and the Irish needing 18 yards on a fourth down to keep the game alive, Florida State allowed 20 to a wide-open receiver, which set up the final stop, but not until after the Irish penetrated the FSU 5-yard line and had several shots at the end zone (one of which actually resulted in a touchdown that was called back due to offensive pass interference). But the final heave fell into the hands of Jacob Pugh (the freshman’s second pick of the night), and the Seminole faithful left happy, the Warchant echoing off the Doak corridors.

Survival

It wasn’t always pretty, but once again, as they have for a program-record 23 straight games, the ‘Noles found a way. They did so using an established star like Greene (8 catches for 108 yards and a score) and an emerging star in Travis Rudolph (80 yards on six grabs, including a touchdown). It was a game full of tense moments of doubt and second guessing, but it ended with a Florida State victory– and one over a top five team. The Seminoles have next Saturday off before traveling to Louisville for a Thursday-night showdown.