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The University of Notre Dame football team (8-1) piled up eight sacks on the season as they defeated Florida State (1-9) 52-3, giving the Irish their seventh straight win in 2024. Senior defensive lineman Rylie Mills led the sack parade with a career-high three, while adding two other tackles and a quarterback pressure.

The Irish attack was a team effort. Quarterback Rylie Leonard threw for 215 yards, one touchdown and added two more scores on the ground. Jadarian Price provided perhaps the highlight of the day with a scoring run of 64 yards and finished the game with 94 yards rushing. Jaden Greathouse led the team with five receptions for 66 yards, while Mitchell Evans and Deion Colzie caught touchdown passes.

Sophomore Luke Talich capped the scoring in the game with a 79-yard interception return for a touchdown with less than two minutes remaining.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Notre Dame received the opening kickoff and quickly scored. On third down, Leonard Aneyas found Williams 28 yards out of the backfield and connected with Mitchell Evans for nine yards to the Florida State 34-yard line.

The next play call was a run up the middle, with Leonard having the choice of keeping the ball or handing it off. He kept it, cut outside behind an Evans block, then Kris Mitchell locked down his defender and Leonard leaped into the end zone for a 34-yard score.

Florida State chewed its way down the field on its first offensive possession. By converting two fourth-and-short runs, the Seminoles earned a first-and-goal inside the Irish five-yard line. Notre Dame’s red zone defense, which has been excellent all season, stepped up again and held the Seminoles to a 23-yard field goal.

The teams traded three-and-outs twice entering the second quarter until Jadarian Price erupted for a 17-yard run to start an Irish possession. Freshman offensive tackle Anthonie Knapp, who started his ninth straight game tonight, returned to the line after missing a few plays with a minor injury. Knapp would throw the key block to get Price to jump through the left side of the line. The sophomore running back from Denison, Texas, beat the FSU defense and battled the last defender for a spectacular 65-yard touchdown run.

Senior defensive lineman Rylie Miss picked off Florida State’s own next possession with back-to-back sacks. The Irish offense started with a 21-yard completion to Jaden Harrison, but could get no further. Both teams continued to trade short possessions as the game entered the final two minutes of the first half.

Notre Dame sparked a drive before halftime, overcoming a sack with a 15-yard completion to Beaux Collins and a 10-yard Leonard run on fourth-and-1.

It appeared the drive had come to a halt at the FSU 26-yard line when Jordan Faison dropped a pass in the open. After considering a field goal attempt before Florida State called a timeout, the Irish again completed a pass to Faison, who this time made the catch and ended the play at the FSU 12-yard line.

Leonard then dropped a perfect fade pass to Evans in the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown pass to give the Irish a 21-3 lead at the half.

Mills’ career-high third sack of the game powered Florida State’s first possession of the second half and Jordan Clark ended the drive with his first interception in an Irish uniform and the fourth of his career. Clark’s pick gave Notre Dame’s offense the ball at the FSU 40-yard line.

The Irish started with a return screen to Jaden Greathouse for 10 yards, then a center screen to Greathouse went up 20 yards to the Seminole six-yard line. Leonard did the rest, dancing untouched into the end zone for this second rushing touchdown of the game and 13th of the season – a Notre Dame single-season record.

The sack party in the Florida State backfield continued on the next drive. FSU moved the ball into Notre Dame territory, but back-to-back sacks by Donovan Hinish (who had a career-best two in tonight’s game) and Jaylen Sneed on fourth down ended the threat at the Notre Dame 40-yard line.

Notre Dame scored three more points, with much of the yards coming from a Leonard-to-Harrison connection for 26 yards, including another 15 yards tacked on when FSU tackled the quarterback. However, the drive stalled at the 15-yard line and Mitch Jeter converted the 28-yard field goal.

A Mills pressure ended yet another Florida State drive and the Irish took over at their own 37-yard line. Leonard connected with Jeremiyah Love for 13 yards and a Seminole pass interference penalty pushed the ball to the 35. Greathouse made a leaping catch off a perfectly placed pass from Leonard, falling with the ball at the two-yard line. Love then capped the drive with a two-yard run to keep his streak of a rushing touchdown alive (all nine games of the 2024 season, tied for the fourth-best streak in school history).

The backup Irish defense earned a quick stop to get the second and third set of fouls on the field. Justin Fisher, a native of Mishawaka, Indiana, caught a 16-yard pass, then running back Jake Tafelski recorded his first catch at Notre Dame to move the ball to the FSU nine-yard line.

One play later, Steve Angeli threw a beautiful fade pass to Deion Colzie in the end zone for a seven-yard scoring strike.

The Irish reserves weren’t done scoring yet. Florida State drove within scoring range, but sophomore Luke Talich jumped an out route at the 21-yard line and raced untouched for his first career interception and touchdown.

– article via Notre Dame Athletics Communications –