Written By Adrian Beecher
South Bend, IN – Led behind a solid first half start from Brandon Wimbush, over 200 yards rushing from Dexter Wiliams and 10 points off turnovers in the 1st quarter, Notre Dame dominated Florida State 42-13 on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium on Senior night.
The night couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start for Noles, as quarterback Deondre Francois got intercepted on the 2nd play of the game off a tipped ball, setting up the Irish with a 1st and goal at the 3-yard line. Two plays later, Senior quarterback Brandon Wimbush, starting in place of the injured Ian Book, connected on a left side back shoulder fade to Miles Boykin on the 2nd play of the drive in the end zone to make it 7-0 Irish quickly.
The Bleeding would not stop there, as the Noles went 3 and out on their next possession and Wimbush led the Irish on a 14 play 81-yard drive. Capping off the possession was a 6 yard TD connection from Wimbush to Alize Mack.
Then, once again, disaster struck for the Noles, on the first play of the drive, Cam Akers took a hit 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage and fumbled the ball. Daelin Hayes picked it up for the Irish, giving the offense a 1st and 10 at the Noles 14 yard line. The Irish would once again capitalize on the turnover, this time tacking on a 26 yard Justin Yoon field goal to make it 17-0 with just under 6 minutes left in the 1st quarter.
On the ensuing Seminole possession, they were able to get the ball moving and put together a solid drive. Cam Akers would run it in from 8 yards out to get the Noles on the board, with the potential to build some momentum to get back in the game. However, all that hope was sucked away as the extra point attempt was blocked by defensive tackle Jerry Tillery, and cornerback Julian Love picked up the ball and took it the other way for two points for the Irish. This made it 19-6 with 13:17 left in the 1st half.
The Irish took full advantage of the momentum and pounded the Noles into the ground. They would add two more touchdowns before the end of the half to all but salt this away before the 2nd half even started. As the teams whet into the locker room, the 3rd ranked Irish held a 32-6 advantage over FSU.
In the 2nd half, the Noles were able to get an interception on the first drive and capitalize on it to make it 32-13. However, that would be the last time FSU would get points on the board as the Notre Dame defense refused to let up.
Notre Dames offense slowed down in the 2nd half, only taking on one TD and a field goal, but that was more than enough for them against an FSU offense that looked more than defeated after their first TD of the 2nd half.
Notre Dame Senior quarterback Brandon Wimbush was starting in the absence of injured starter Ian Book and completed just 12 of 25 passes for 130 yards and 3 TDs. However, in the first half, he was streamlining great, completing 9 of 15 passing for 97 yards, 3 TD’s compiling into a 180.3 passer rating. In the 2nd half, it was the run game dominating the force for the Irish.
“I think there were two things. One, the ability to go and have Brandon Wimbush come in and start and start well, get off to a good start and gain momentum. I don’t think if you get off to a good start and you don’t get that momentum it kind of gets lost in what happens in the game.”, said Notre Dame Head coach Brian Kelly, “I think that that then kind of would be the second thing, is the ability to run the football when they knew we were going to run the football against a group that’s been stingy against everybody all year.”
In total the Irish rushed for 365 yards with Dexter Williams leading the way with 20 carries for 202 yards and two TDs.
They will need to keep the ball rolling with only two games left on the schedule. If the Irish can win out, they are all but guaranteed a spot in the College Football Playoff. Up next is Syracuse in the annual Shamrock Series game, this year being held at Yankee Stadium. Then they head to the west coast for a regular-season finale bout with USC.
