Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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26 NOV. 16, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED games, too, Freeman added. Lord knows Notre Dame has endured both this sea- son. But the third-year head coach wanted to see consistency in the second half against Florida State. "Let's be consistent," Freeman said he told his team. "That's who you really are, right? It's not what you do on one day versus what you — who you are is who you are consistently, and that's in all walks of life." After they trotted out of the locker room, the Irish went touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown. Senior quarterback Riley Leonard completed 6 of 9 throws for 99 yards, and once his services were no longer required, junior signal-caller Steve Angeli connected on 3 of 3 passes for 37 yards and a touchdown. "They were pretty consistent in the second half," Freeman said. They weren't just consistent, though. They went for the throat. Notre Dame outscored Florida State 31-0 after the break and outclassed the Seminoles on both sides of the ball. The offense rolled. The defense smashed both FSU quarterbacks with hammers. The Irish could have coasted into the night and still won by plenty, but they did anything but. "I told them, 'Go out in the second half and play like that,'" Freeman said. "Play like it's a privilege to play for this university, to play for this football pro- gram.' And if you do that, you'll play the way we played in the second half." It wouldn't be entirely accurate to say Notre Dame up the score. It wasn't looking to embarrass Florida State any more than Florida State had embar- rassed itself. But the Irish kept play- ing their game, built confidence for the home stretch and gave their College Football Playoff ré- sumé a boost in the process. "That's something we've been preaching all year," Leon- ard said. "Start fast, stay fast." Notre Dame stayed fast even with its third- and fourth- stringers in the game against Florida State's starters. "As a defense, we completely shut them down and now we have the ability to get those young guys in," graduate stu- dent defensive tackle Rylie Mills said. "You got the bright lights out there and the young guys are getting a real situation against a real football team." One of those young guys, sophomore safety Luke Talich, put the exclamation point on the win with a 79-yard pick six. Redshirt fresh- man FSU quarterback Brock Glenn tried to chase Talich down, only to stumble and grab a fistful of undershirt after he crossed the goal line. That was this game in South Bend, for 60 minutes: Florida State flailing while the Irish made plays. ✦ MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • The all-time series between Notre Dame and Florida State is now tied 6-6. The Fighting Irish are 4-2 against the Seminoles at Notre Dame Stadium. • The Irish now have a 23-7 all-time record at home in night games. • Notre Dame improved to 4-0 against ACC teams in 2024 and 5-0 coming off bye weeks during the Marcus Freeman era. • Graduate student linebacker Jack Kiser tied former Irish defensive back Houston Griffith (2018-22) for the Notre Dame record of ca- reer games played at 62. Graduate student defensive tackle Howard Cross III appeared in his 60th game, which is fifth on Notre Dame's all-time list. • Junior wide receiver Deion Colzie notched his third career touchdown reception and his first during the 2024 season, hooking up with junior quarterback Steve Angeli for a 7-yard score late in the fourth quarter. • A trio of freshmen — defensive lineman Sean Sevillano Jr., defensive back Tae John- son and linebacker Tommy Powlus — each recorded their first career tackle for the Irish. NOTRE DAME VS. FLORIDA STATE QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 4:48 8:04 5:46 8:11 12:52 13:57 26:49 Third-Down Conversions 1-3 1-5 1-2 2-2 2-8 3-4 5-12 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 2-2 0-0 0-0 2-2 0-0 2-2 Average Field Position ND-21 ND-32 FSU-49 ND-39 ND-26 ND-45 ND-33 Florida State 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 10:12 6:56 9:14 6:49 17:08 16:03 33:11 Third-Down Conversions 0-5 0-3 2-4 2-5 0-8 4-9 4-17 Fourth-Down Conversions 1-1 0-0 0-1 0-0 1-1 0-1 1-2 Average Field Position FSU-31 FSU-21 FSU-26 FSU-22 FSU-25 FSU-24 FSU-25 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards ND FSU Nega ve 6 10 0-5 32 40 6-9 7 11 10-19 9 7 20-29 5 1 30-39 1 0 40-49 0 0 50 or more 1 0 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Notre Dame 5 4 1 0 Florida State 2 1 1 0 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 3-6 ND29 Leonard pass to Williams for 28 yards to FSU43 • 2-1 FSU34 Leonard run for 34 yards and a touchdown • 2-8 ND35 Price run for 65 yards and a touchdown • 2-6 ND44 Leonard pass to Harrison for 26 yards to FSU30 • 3-2 FSU27 Leonard pass to Greathouse for 26 yards to FSU1 Florida State • 3-6 FSU48 Singleton run for 27 yards to ND25 Sophomore wide receiver Jaden Greathouse hauled in 5 recep- tions for 66 yards against the Seminoles, including a 26-yard slot fade that set up an Irish touchdown in the fourth quarter. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER