As Eastern Daylight Time slipped past 11 p.m. in the Florida Panhandle, resolution still hadn't come, and the scoreboard showed a merry tie. As great-big Doak Campbell Stadium headed through the final hour of Saturday toward 11:30, resolution still hadn't come. Notre Dame and Florida State kept trading scores and scoring threats.
And as an inter-regional October classic of big traditions and top-five rankings ended at 10 minutes to midnight with Florida State winning, 31-27, the 82,431 onlookers and those watching at home might wonder something.
Did resolution ever come?
As college football eyeballs its first four-team playoff, No. 5 Notre Dame and No. 2 Florida State entered the game as contenders and probably left it as contenders. Each acquitted itself well. Their battle became a showcase of excellent quarterbacking from two players wearing No. 5. Notre Dame's sideline actually erupted in apparent victory with 13 seconds remaining after Everett Golson 's apparent two-yard touchdown pass to tight end Corey Robinson, but a penalty for offensive interference negated that.
Only when Golson's last fluttering pass went helpless to the back of the end zone for a game-sealing interception did Notre Dame fall to 6-1 - but only after it had silenced any notion it did not belong among the big boys of the American Southeast. Florida State spent a first half on the wrong end of statistical domination yet responded with rarefied competence in the second, especially from its controversial quarterback, Jameis Winston, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner.
It found its way to 7-0 after another tense show on its home grass, four Saturdays after it weathered Clemson, 23-17, in overtime, and it still hasn't lost at all since Nov. 24, 2012, when Florida came in and wreaked sadness so long ago.
Such winning streaks, 22 games long before kickoff, do have a way of fostering considerable favorite-hood. Notre Dame quickly dispelled that. It spent the first half acting as favorite. With Golson cleaning up the clutter that marked his game the past three weeks (five fumbles, five interceptions), the Irish held the ball for 19 minutes 29 seconds compared with Florida State's 10:31.
They made 15 first downs to Florida State's five. They rushed for 115 yards while Florida State's offense, ranked 97th in the nation in rushing, managed only 19. They ran 50 plays to Florida State's 24. They conducted scoring drives of 84 and 67 yards.
They led only 17-10, but they threw some doubt around the grounds.
While Winston's first half had not been dreadful, his most memorable play had been a dreadful decision he made while backing up toward his goal line against a mighty rush, heaving an unwise ball toward the middle of the field, where it landed in the gut of Notre Dame linebacker Joe Schmidt at the Florida State 31-yard line. That set up Golson's second touchdown pass to Robinson.
Well, Winston emerged from halftime and started matching Golson competence-for-competence. He started by taking Florida State 70 yards in nine plays to tie the score at 17. Golson countered by taking Notre Dame 83 yards in seven often-breathtaking plays to create a 24-17 lead. Winston responded by taking Florida State 75 yards in seven plays to make another tie, at 24. After the punters made some cameos and Notre Dame got a 46-yard field goal from Kyle Brindza with 11:40 left, Winston stayed unconquerable.
Making some first-rate throws, including a 16-yard completion with a huge rush headed right into his eyes, Winston took Florida State 75 yards in 10 plays that looked rather breezy, almost professional. When Karlos Williams hopped into the end zone from one yard to cap that, Florida State had its first, only and last lead.
Notre Dame, to its credit, still had a chance.
Posted by Unknown on Saturday, October 18, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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