Jonathan Doerer hit a 41-yard field goal in overtime Sunday night as No. 9 Notre Dame survived blowing an 18-point, fourth-quarter lead, edging Florida State 41-38 in Tallahassee in each team's season opener.
The Seminoles missed a chance to take the lead when Ryan Fitzgerald hooked a 37-yard field goal wide left on their overtime possession. After three plays, Doerer calmly made the winning kick on 4th-and-8 after a Florida State timeout.
Florida State forced overtime when Fitzgerald hit a 43-yard field goal with 40 seconds left in regulation, his career long. Travis Jay intercepted Jack Coan's Hail Mary pass at the Seminoles' 11 as time expired.
Coan, a Wisconsin transfer, set a Fighting Irish record for a first-time starting quarterback with 366 yards on 26-of-35 passing.
Florida State quarterback McKenzie Milton, playing his first game since a devastating knee injury three years ago while playing for Central Florida, helped force overtime after replacing Jordan Travis in the fourth quarter.
Milton was 5-of-7 for 48 yards, finishing a touchdown drive and leading the tying field-goal march. Travis completed 9-of-19 passes for 130 yards, with two touchdowns and three interceptions.
Notre Dame initiated scoring just 2:14 into the game when Coan found Michael Mayer on 4th-and-1 for a 41-yard touchdown pass.
After doing nothing on its first two possessions, Florida State equalized with one dynamic play -- an 89-yard scoring run by Jashaun Corbin.
The Seminoles took their first lead with 10:05 left in the first half on a 2-yard run by Travis, but the Irish rallied to take the halftime lead. Doerer connected on a 48-yard field goal, followed by Coan's 23-yard pass to Joe Wilkins that made it 17-14.
Florida State regained the advantage just 1:24 into the third quarter when Travis found Ja'Khi Douglas for a 60-yard scoring strike. But Notre Dame answered with three touchdowns in just over seven minutes.
Coan found Kevin Austin and Kyren Williams for 37 and 6-yard scores, respectively, and Chris Tyree punched in from the 1 with 4:37 left for a 38-20 Notre Dame lead.
--Field Level Media
Notre Dame | Florida State | |
Kyren Williams | Player | Jashaun Corbin |
18 | Attempts | 15 |
42 | Yards | 144 |
2.3 | Avg Yards | 9.6 |
0 | Touchdowns | 1 |
0 | Long | 0 |
Notre Dame | Florida State | |
Michael Mayer | Player | Ja'khi Douglas |
9 | Receptions | 3 |
120 | Yards | 80 |
13.3 | Avg Yards | 26.7 |
1 | Touchdowns | 1 |
0 | Long | 0 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Notre Dame | 431 | 65 | 366 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 5.0 | 0 |
Florida State | 442 | 264 | 178 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4.0 | 0 |