Irish run away from FSU
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Neither a lengthy layoff nor an early fumble could deter Notre Dame’s Kyren Williams, who flashed back to second grade in order to press forward.
Williams, after fumbling at the Irish 32 on the second play from scrimmage, ran for 185 yards and two touchdowns as Notre Dame beat Florida State 42-26 on Saturday night. The Irish moved up one spot to No. 4 in Sunday’s new Associated Press poll.
“It was kind of hard coming in at first after not being able to play in 21 days and seeing live action and live bullets right away,” Williams said.
He had 130 yards and both of his scores during the first half to helpNotreDame build a 35-20 lead.
“We had to get into our groove,” Williams said of the Irish being off the previous two weekends, one of those because of a COVID-19 outbreak within the team.
“I had to feel comfortable again. I just had to tell myself after the fumble just to reset and just to play how I always play the game of football. I tell myself all day, it’s been the same game since second grade. I just kept that mindset after I fumbled.”
Added coach Brian Kelly: “We just reminded (Kyren) about ball security. He wasn’t hit a lot (in recent weeks). We only had one opportunity in these last three weeks to go live with our guys. I’m not up here to make excuses for guys, but he’s a great competitor. He bounced back. Great competitors put that play behind them andmove on.”
Ian Book completed 16 of 25 passes for 201 yards and two touchdownsand ran for 58 yards and another score as Notre Dame improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the ACC.
The Irish finished with 353 yards on the ground, their fourth-highest total in the last four seasons.
Irish safety Shawn Crawford helped thwart a potential comeback from Florida State (1-3, 0-3) with a goalline interception with 8 minutes, 21 seconds remaining after the Seminoles had driven 73 yards to the Notre Dame 5.
“We’re all disappointed,” Florida State coach Mike Norvell said. “You invest so much time and effort into a game to win that contest. We didn’t do that and we didn’t do (things) consistently enough, even with some bright spots throughout the course.”
The Irish were too powerful despite a solid performance by Seminoles quarterback JordanTravis.
Making his first start after standing out in relief last week against Jacksonville State, Travis completed 13 of 24 passes for 204 yards and led Florida State in rushing with 96 yards on 19 carries, even with a pair of sacks mixed in. He threw a touchdown pass and ran for a score.
“I thought he played extremely tough,” Norvell said about the Seminoles’s third starting quarterback this season. “He had a lot of different looks thrown his way and made some really good decisions, and there’s some things he’ll learn, but itwas a gutsy performance.”
James Blackman relieved Travis for Florida State’s last possession after the starter suffered an apparent hand injury. Norvell didn’t detail the extent of it. The Seminoles’ Tamorrion Terry caught seven passes for 121 yards and a touchdown.
Irish wideout Javon McKinley had five receptions for 107 yards. Chris Tyree joined Williams in surpassing 100 rushing yards with 103 and a touchdown on 11 carries.
The Seminoles, who gave up 52 points two weeks ago at Miami, looked overwhelmed at times on defense but did improve in the second half. Not only did the Irish offensive line have no trouble knocking Florida State off the ball — little surprise givenNotreDame’s ranking as the nation’s best unit — but Seminoles linebackers other than Amari Gainer oftenwere unable to step up and close gaps. Notre Dame had 240 rushing yards by halftime on 20 attempts.