TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Notre Dame’s storied history is filled with dramatic finishes, and for a brief moment, the Fighting Irish appeared to have added to their lore with an improbable victory Saturday night against No. 2 Florida State.
But what looked to be a 2-yard touchdown pass on a fourth down in the final seconds did not count. A penalty flag lay near the goal line, where wide receiver C.J. Prosise had run into Seminoles safety Jalen Ramsey — a pick play of sorts that had allowed Corey Robinson to run free into the end zone.
With the penalty pushing Notre Dame back to the 18-yard line, Everett Golson threw a desperation pass that was intercepted by Jacob Pugh in the end zone, giving the Seminoles a 31-27 victory over the fifth-ranked Irish and setting off a wild celebration by the fans at Doak Campbell Stadium.
Florida State remained unbeaten at 7-0 and extended its winning streak to 23 games, despite allowing Notre Dame to convert a fourth-and-18 play at midfield on its final drive. When Golson hit Robinson for a 20-yard gain for the first down, the Irish seemed poised to pull off a magical rally.
“This team doesn’t flinch,” Florida State Coach Jimbo Fisher said. “It can deal with anything. It can deal with pressure moments and pressure situations. And that’s what we did tonight. This was a slugfest. Both teams stood there toe-to-toe. It was a heck of a football game.”
Quarterback Jameis Winston again rose to the mercurial level that made him a Heisman Trophy winner, completing 15 of 16 passes for 181 yards in the second half. He finished 23 of 31 passing for 273 yards and two touchdowns. Golson did not flinch, either, going 31 of 52 for 313 yards and three touchdowns.
The Seminoles used Karlos Williams’s second short scoring run to take their first lead at 31-27 with 7 minutes 39 seconds to play, setting the stage for the nerve-racking finish that Irish fans might also view as controversial.
“We needed to make one more play,” Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly said.
Kelly said the referees didn’t provide an explanation for the pass interference call on Prosise. “We execute that play every day. And we do it legally and that’s the way we coach it. We don’t coach illegal plays,” Kelly said. Prosise “did exactly what he’s coached to do — exactly what he’s supposed to do.”
Each team had opened the third quarter with a long drive. The Seminoles moved 70 yards in nine plays, pulling into a 17-17 tie with Winston’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Rashad Greene. The Irish responded by going 83 yards in seven plays and retaking the lead on Golson’s 11-yard pass to Will Fuller.
From there, it became a matter of whose will would prevail.
“The one thing that people need to realize about this Seminoles team is when we got our backs against the wall, we always rise, we always start playing harder,” Winston said.
“Notre Dame is a great team,” Winston said. “They have a great defense. But we keep together, we stay together and we keep winning.”
Golson, who entered the game 16-1 as a starter, won the first-half quarterback duel against Winston, who was 19-0 as a starter. He completed 15 of 26 passes for 139 yards in the half, with two scoring throws to Robinson, as the Irish took a 17-10 lead. Behind Golson’s poise and a balanced attack, Notre Dame outgained Florida State, 254 yards to 111, before halftime and held a nearly nine-minute edge in time of possession.
Golson’s only big mistake in the early going was a pass intercepted by Pugh, a linebacker, at the Seminoles’ 14-yard line. But Winston gave the Irish the ball right back, with a heave down the middle of the field as three defenders converged on him. Linebacker Joe Schmidt easily picked off the pass, and two plays later, Golson connected with Robinson for a 14-7 lead with 12 minutes left in the second quarter.
Winston opened the game by completing 8 of 15 passes for 92 yards with a touchdown and that one interception, a pedestrian performance by his standards, albeit one that proved only a warm-up for the second half.
In the days leading up to the game, Winston, whose actions off the field have at times drawn as much attention as his play, was the subject of an ESPN report that said more than 2,000 items he had signed had been found on an authentication website. On Friday, Florida State said an investigation by its compliance staff had not found evidence that Winston was paid for signing the memorabilia and cleared him to play for now.
The matchup with the Irish looked to be the sort of game that could return at least some of the focus to his play: With strength of schedule set to play a role in the selection of teams for the College Football Playoff, the Seminoles, who do not have any games left on their schedule against an opponent currently ranked in the top 25, had the opportunity to earn a signature victory.
Florida State had its work cut out for it, though. Despite the perception that Doak Campbell Stadium lends the Seminoles a huge home-field advantage, they had lost their last five games there against top-five opponents, a streak dating to 2001, and the Irish looked comfortable almost from the start, taking a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter on Golson’s first touchdown pass to Robinson.
Notre Dame used runs up the middle and short, crisp passes to move 84 yards in 12 plays on that drive. The Seminoles helped, too, as Ronald Darby was called for pass interference in the end zone, giving the Irish a first down at the 3-yard line and setting up Robinson’s 1-yard score.
Falling behind seemed to wake up Florida State, especially Winston, who had misfired on three of his first four throws. He needed only four plays to tie the score at 7-7, connecting with Greene for 23 and 33 yards and then hitting Travis Rudolph for an 11-yard touchdown.
“I told them at halftime, I don’t have any magical words, no magical formula,” Fisher said. “You got your butts outplayed. But as bad as you got outplayed, you’re only down one possession and one score.”
In the end, that’s what it came down to for Notre Dame.
An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of the coach of Notre Dame’s football team. He is Brian Kelly, not Kelley.
Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article misstated Notre Dame’s field position after a late penalty. The team was pushed back to Florida State’s 18-yard line, not its own.