Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 23, 2024 25 NOTRE DAME OVERCOMES QUESTIONABLE CALL ON FAKE PUNT Notre Dame head coach Marcus Free- man doesn't lose his cool often. He lost it entirely on the sideline in South Bend against Virginia. The fumes of Freeman's berating of an Atlantic Coast Conference officiating crew were felt in the press box. In Notre Dame Stadium seats. Through televi- sion sets. It was a chilly mid-November day in Michiana but the Fighting Irish's skipper was red hot. As it turns out, probably for very good reason. Notre Dame had a 73-yard fake punt touchdown called back because of a penalty. It appeared to be a success- ful "fumblerooski" — Jack Kiser took a direct snap and secretively handed the ball to Jordan Faison, who was hiding behind Notre Dame's towering offensive linemen at the onset of the play. Faison shot around the left edge and into the end zone on fourth-and-6. It'll go down in the game book as an "illegal formation" penalty, though, be- cause the referees claimed Kiser took a hand-to-hand snap. Notre Dame lob- bied — vehemently and vociferously, in Freeman's case — that it was a shotgun snap, which would make the subsequent handoff to Faison a legal one. "Most of the time, I was trying to get the interpretation of, 'Hey, this is what we did. What's your interpretation?'" Freeman said. No amount of justifying won the offi- cials over. The touchdown did not stand, and Notre Dame had to punt it away — for real that time. That was much to the dismay of the players involved. Kiser played quarterback for Pioneer High School just down the road from Notre Dame in Royal Center, Ind. In the game in which he set the all-time pro- gram record for appearances with his 63rd, he could have been a part of an all- time touchdown for his dream school. "I ran all the way down there, was freaking out, then I saw a flag and my heart sank," Kiser said. "I don't know. It was fun. It was certainly a fun play to do." Faison said the fake was installed al- most a calendar year ago in prepara- tion for the Sun Bowl. The sophomore was stripped of what very well could've stood up as his flashiest highlight at the end of his career, and he's already had quite a few of them with plenty more likely to come. The move he put on the last man to beat in a Virginia uniform was devastat- ing, though, and possibly unmatched in the future. "To execute so very well out there on the field was amazing," Faison said. Also amazing — the way Notre Dame used the questionable, at best, call as fuel. A "spark," Freeman dubbed it. The punt team flew down the field and made a nice stop. Sophomore safety Adon Shuler intercepted a pass on third-and-8 a few snaps later. He returned it to the Virginia 2-yard line, and Notre Dame scored a touchdown on the very next play. Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden gave his unit strict instruc- tions for a defensive series played at 14-0 when everyone in the stadium felt it should have been 21-0. "He said, 'No matter what's the call, we've got to go out there and play on our feet and play the next play," Shuler said. VIRGINIA GAME NOTES BY TYLER HORKA AND JACK SOBLE Sophomore wide receiver Jordan Faison's 73-yard touchdown on a beautifully designed fake punt in the second quarter was nullified by a questionable illegal formation penalty. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • The Fighting Irish notched their 12th consecutive sellout in Notre Dame Stadium with an attendance of 77,622. It marks the second consecutive season they have sold out all of their home games. • Notre Dame improved to 5-0 all time against Virginia and 2-0 at Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish have been ranked in the top 10 for all five of their meetings against the Cavaliers, who now have an all-time record of 1-32 in 33 road games against top-10 teams. • Notre Dame has won its last eight Senior Day games and has an all-time record of 103-25-5 in those contests. • Graduate student safety Xavier Watts' interception late in the first half was the 11th of his career, moving him into a tie with four other players for ninth on the Notre Dame career list. • Graduate student punter James Rendell notched a career high with a 64-yard punt against the Cavaliers. It was the longest punt for the Irish since Jon Sot's 61-yard effort against Marshall in 2022. • Freshman running back Aneyas Williams established new career highs in rushing attempts (7), receptions (3) and receiving yards (35) against Virginia.