Notre Dame Beats Florida State In Thrilling Finish
60 minutes wasn’t enough to decide the winner between No. 9 Notre Dame and Florida State in Game 1 of the 2021 season for both teams under the lights inside Doak Campbell Stadium, but in the end, the Irish snuffed out a ferocious Seminole comeback attempt and picked up win number one 41-38 in overtime. Jonathan Doerer kicked the game-winning 41-yard field goal to seal the deal in what was a back and forth affair from start to finish.
For Notre Dame, it was a near perfect start on both sides of the ball. A sack and false start penalty were the lone blemishes on a 5-play, 75-yard opening touchdown drive for the Irish that was highlighted by a 41-yard Michael Mayer touchdown catch on a 4th and 1. Jack Coan was a perfect 4-4 for 82 yards and connected with Mayer three times for 61 yards in Coan’s debut drive in blue and gold.
Then, Florida State punted after losing 10 yards in three plays on their opening drive and the momentum swung heavily in favor of the Irish. The golden start began to lose its luster rather quickly though, as the Irish served up back-to-back punts of their own and then Jashaun Corbin went 89 yards to the house and tied the game up at 7 in what was a poor display of tackling by the Notre Dame defense.
A turnover on downs and one short punt later and all of a sudden the Seminoles were on top 14-7 after a Jordan Travis 2-yard keeper at the goal line after a 4 play drive that started on Notre Dame’s 45-yard line.
With the lead gone and 80,000 Seminoles fan erupting, Notre Dame responded in a big way. Jonathan Doerer connected on a 48-yard field goal after a 10-play drive to cut the deficit to 14-10, Kyle Hamilton followed that up with his first interception of the season on defense and then Joe Wilkins Jr. went up and got a 23-yard touchdown pass through traffic to give Notre Dame a 17-14 lead that they kept until halftime.
Notre Dame seemed like an entirely new beast offensively in the first half compared to a season ago. The Irish were aggressive from the start, going for it on 4 th down on the first drive and trying to convert on 4 th down again several drives later. In 2020, the run game was Notre Dame’s bread and butter, but in the first 30 minutes in Tallahassee Coan threw 19 passes and took the deep 50/50 shots that were at a minimum in 2020, cashing in on two touchdowns through the air. With that being said, the newly remade Irish offensive line had no answer for Florida State defensive end Jermaine Johnson II, who put up 7 tackles and 1.5 sacks in the first half alone. Notre Dame was also 2-9 on third down in the first half.
For Florida State, although the Seminoles were able to compete and put up 14 points in the first half, the offensive line struggles from a season ago continued. Travis was sacked four times and threw for just 45 yards. Outside of Corbin’s 89-yard run, the Seminoles gained just 63 yards on 25 plays. Mike Norvell’s squad was also penalized six times for 40 yards in the first half.
After the break, it was Florida State that struck first thanks to a 60-yard heave down the left sideline from Travis to Ja’Khi Douglas to mark the game’s third lead change and reignite the sold-out crowd inside Doak Campbell Stadium.
It was the Irish, though, that dominated the third quarter, scoring three touchdowns on three drives and picking Travis off for two more interceptions on consecutive defensive drives. Notre Dame went right back to the air raid in the second half, with Coan finding Kevin Austin Jr on a 37-yard over-the-shoulder strike for a score and following it up with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Kyren Williams. After a Chris Tyree 1-yard score on the next drive, Notre Dame was firmly in control with a 38-20 lead with 4:38 left in the third. By quarter’s end, Coan had 22 completions for 330+ yards and 4 touchdowns.
Any comfort the cushion of the 18-point lead provided the Irish was hastily taken away once the Seminoles immediately responded with a six minute, 15-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped off by a 8-yard pass to Kansas transfer Andrew Parchment. After a quick Notre Dame punt, Florida State followed up the previous scoring drive with an even better one. The Seminoles marched down the field for 88 yards on 12 plays and scored on a Treshaun Ward 2-yard run to make it 38-35 with 5:36 minutes. Better yet, Florida State backup quarterback McKenzie Milton engineered the scoring drive, replacing Travis mid-drive after a big hit. Milton completed all four of his passes for 36 yards to set up the score in his first game action in 1,017 days after gruesomely injuring his right leg.
With the momentum now swung heavily in favor of the Seminoles, Notre Dame punted for the second consecutive time after a three-and-out, and again Milton, who was once told he might never be able to walk again, guided the Seminoles 46 yards downfield in 10 plays to set up the game-tying 43-yard field goal that Ryan Fitzgerald sent through the uprights to tie the game at 38 with 40 seconds to go and ultimately send the game to overtime.
In the fourth quarter, the Seminoles outscored Notre Dame 18-0 and outgained the Irish 209-38 in total yards. The Seminoles offensive line looked like a different unit in the second half, as Florida State outran the Irish 157-3 in the second half and pushed the ball against a Notre Dame defense that looked out of sorts after the two earlier second half interceptions.
In the overtime period, the Seminoles started with the ball and weren’t able to move the ball effectively before Ryan Fitzgerald missed the potential go ahead field goal from 37 yards out. Notre Dame got possession and Jonathan Doerer split the uprights from 41 yards out to give the Irish the win.
Florida State struggled in pass protection, turned the ball over and drew too many penalties, but the Seminoles looked like a much-improved team from a year ago, out-gaining Notre Dame for the game 442 to 431, and converting 19 first downs. For the game, the Seminoles out-rushed Notre Dame’s talented backfield 264-65 in yards.
Jack Coan was stellar in his Irish debut, completing 74 percent of his 35 passes for 366 yards and 4 touchdowns. Meanwhile, the new look Irish offensive line struggled against the Florida State defense, gaining just 65 yards on the ground and giving up four sacks on the night. Notre Dame’s defense did force three turnovers in Marcus Freeman’s coordinating debut, but the unit looked a lot less dominant than the Irish defenses of the past three seasons under coach Lea, and failed to get a stop over the final 18 minutes of game time. Yet, in some regards, that’s to be expected after losing several starters on all three levels.
All in all, it was a highly competitive matchup between two teams hungry for a victory, and while both teams have much to improve on moving forward, Sunday night isn’t a bad place to start.
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