Oklahoma State Rallies To Beat Notre Dame In The Fiesta Bowl
In a game that had so much riding on it, it was a tale of two halves for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. They dominated the Cowboys of Oklahoma State in the first half only to give up the lead, and ultimately the game, 37-35 in the 2022 version of the Playstation Fiesta Bowl.
Notre Dame took the opening drive 75 yards in five plays in 1:39 to open the scoring as Jack Coan hit Lorenzo Styles, Jr. up the seam for a 29 yard score. Coan went 4/5 for all 75 yards spreading the ball around to three different receivers.
After a 14 yard quarterback keeper by Spencer Sanders the Notre Dame defense went to work and forced an Oklahoma State punt. The drive was highlighted by a speed rush sack by Isaiah Foskey. The Irish then took the ball and proceeded to go three and out followed by another forced punt by Notre Dame’s defense.
On their third drive it only took Notre Dame four plays and a little over two minutes to out another touchdown on the board. The Irish were staring at a third and seven and Oklahoma State brought an all out blitz. Jack Coan spotted it pre snap and was able to convert a short pass into the blitz to Chris Tyree into a 53 yard catch and run to put the Irish up 14-0.
Things calmed down a bit for Notre Dame offensively as they then punted on their final two drives of the first quarter while the Cowboy offense came to life on their fourth drive of the afternoon. Oklahoma State was able to put together an 8 play, 82 yard drive which was aided by a handful of missed tackles by the Irish including a miss by safety DJ Brown on a jet sweep to Jaden Brey that resulted in a 9 yard touchdown pass to bring the score to 14-7 in favor of Notre Dame.
The Irish responded on their first possession of the second half going 78 yards in 10 plays capped off by a 16 yard TD strike to Michael Mayer on a third and short. Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees mixed things up nicely working the wide receiver screen game into the mix as well as a few well timed RPO throws by Jack Coan. Notre Dame regained their two score advantage at 21-7.
On the ensuing Cowboy drive OSU was able to move the ball 45 yards in 9 plays but had to settle for a 48 yard field goal try by Tanner Brown which was pushed wide right. Notre Dame then took the ball the other way 47 yards in 8 plays only to see Jonathan Doerer push his own 41 yard field goal try to the right.
After forcing Oklahoma State to punt Notre Dame capped off an 84 yard, 11 play drive which ate up over four minutes of time with a 7 yard touchdown pass from Coan to Mayer which was perfectly placed and caught. With a little over a minute left on the clock the Irish defense allowed the Cowboys to drive 75 yards on four plays to answer the Notre Dame touchdown with one of their own. After a quick timeout, Spencer Sanders found Tay Martin in the back of the end zone for a 9 yard touchdown which took the score to 28-14 in favor of the Irish. This was the score going into halftime with Oklahoma State receiving the kickoff after the break.
Coming out of halftime Notre Dame was playing a very soft coverage and Oklahoma State took advantage driving right down the field in 12 plays. The drive covered 87 yards and took over four minutes off the clock. It was quite an answer to Notre Dame’s offensive output in the first half as the Cowboys put together two touchdown drives back to back and forced Notre Dame into a three and out on their first possession.
To start the second half Notre Dame could not get anything going offensively. Their first three drives resulted in punts and they only gained a total of 40 yards. Meanwhile Oklahoma State dominated the third quarter scoring 17 unanswered points and out gaining Notre Dame 200 to 52. Spencer Sanders went 17 of 22 for 143 yards and two touchdowns in the third stanza alone. Tanner Brown hit his first field goal of the day from 38 yards out to give the Cowboys their first lead of the game 31-28.
The fourth quarter did not start much better for Notre Dame as freshman running back Logan Diggs fumbled on the third play of their first drive which led directly to another Brown field goal, this time from 41 yards away to give the Cowboys a six point lead 34-28.
On Notre Dame’s second drive of the quarter it appeared as though they had something going as they moved the ball down the field all the way to the OSU 30. A poor pre snap read by Coan resulted in an interception by All-American linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez.
Oklahoma State proceeded to take crucial time off the clock attempting to set up the deciding score when Spencer Sanders was stripped of the football by Isaiah Foskey and recovered by Drew White giving the Irish one last opportunity to drive 89 yards for the game winning score.
Unfortunately for Notre Dame after four plays and three incompletions they gave the ball back over to Oklahoma State with 2:38 remaining on the clock at the 15 yard line. The Cowboys proceeded to hit a 25 yard field goal to put the icing on the NY6 victory for Oklahoma State.
Notre Dame was able to get the ball back and traverse 75 yards in 1:11 to put another touchdown on the board. Coan found Austin on a crossing route from 25 yards out to make the score 35-37 with 1:05 yet to play. The onside kick attempt by Doerer was recovered by the Cowboys who proceeded to kneel down the remaining time off the clock.
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