Irish Outlast Cal to earn 24-17 Victory

Post-Game Stats

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame football team earned its first win of the 2022 season Saturday afternoon. The Fighting Irish earned a 24-17 victory over the visiting California Golden Bears at Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish defense recorded six sacks in the win, four of which came in the final quarter. The win marks the first victory under Dick Corbett Head Football Coach Marcus Freeman. 

The ground game paved the way as Audric Estime led the charge with 76 yards on 18 carries and a score. Chris Tyree added 64 yards and tied a career-best with 17 carries. Drew Pyne got the start under center, finishing 17-for-23 for 150 yards and two scores. 

Tyree led the receiving corps as well, picking up 44 yards on five catches and a touchdown. 

Safety DJ Brown and defensive lineman Howard Cross III led the defense with seven tackles and a half tackle for loss each. Jacob Lacey added a career-best two sacks to go with five tackles and three for a loss. Isaiah Foskey and Jayson Ademilola each finished with four tackles and 1.5 sacks. Justin Ademilola added one of the biggest sacks of the game to go with three tackles. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

After exchanging punts in the first quarter before the Bears started to put together a drive. Cal drove 58 yards on 11 plays, but the Irish defense stepped its performance up near the red zone to force a 45-yard field goal attempt. Cal’s attempt hit off the left upright and fell no good, keeping the score knotted at zero through the first 15 minutes. 

Cal took the lead in the second quarter, taking over after an Irish fumble. Quarterback Jack Plummer used playaction to find J. Michael Sturdivant in the corner of the end zone for the first score of the game to give the Bears a 7-0 lead with 14:27 remaining in the first half. 

Notre Dame answered on its next possession. After returning the kick out to the 40-yard line, the Irish marched 60 yards on 10 plays for the tying score. Pyne found Tyree up the seam for a 21-yard touchdown pass. Blake Grupe connected on the extra point to tie the game at seven with 8:54 remaining in the half. 

Cal regained the lead on its next possession, driving 69 yards on 10 plays. After a pass down the left sideline put the down inside the Irish ten, Notre Dame forced an incompletion on first down, Marist Liufau and JD Bertrand combined for a tackle for loss on second down, and Brown delivered a big hit on third down on a ball in the flat to keep Cal out of the end zone. Dario Longhetto came on and connected on a 34-yard field goal to regain the lead at 10-7 with 4:11 on the clock. 

After a Jayson Ademilola sack put Cal behind the chains and forced a punt, the Irish powered their way down the field for a touchdown. Estime rushed five times on the nine-play series, capping the 60 yard drive with a two-yard plunge up the middle for the score. Grupe added the extra point and the Irish led 14-10 with 9:14 left in the third quarter. 

Cal had an immediate answer, scoring on a 10-play, 75-yard drive. 58 of those yards came on the ground as Plummer capped the series with a quarterback sneak for the score to put the Golden Bears up 17-14 with just under five minutes left in the second half. 

Notre Dame tied it up just 12 seconds into the final quarter. The 47-yard field goal by Grupe capped a 10-play, 46-yard drive. Estime and Tyree piled up 27 yards on the ground to set up the field goal. 

After a Cal three-and-out gave the Irish possession, Notre Dame went right down the field to take the lead. Estime held the keys to the scoring drive, piling up a combined 44 yards. The sophomore running back caught a pass out of the backfield and scampered 36-yards to put the Irish down at the Cal six yard line. Pyne found Michael Mayer on the next play for the score to put the Irish up 24-17. It marks the second-straight week that Pyne and Mayer have connected for a touchdown. 

Senior defensive end Foskey came up big as the Golden Bears were threatening deep in Irish territory in the fourth quarter. Foskey crashed the pocket on fourth and goal for the sack to turn the ball over to the Irish offense with 6:30 remaining. 

A Jon Sot punt pinned Cal deep in its own territory with just under four minutes remaining. After a pair of incompletions, Jayson Ademilola beat his man and brought down the Cal quarterback for his second sack of the evening, forcing a pint and getting the ball back to the Irish offense with under three minutes to play. 

The Irish couldn’t find the first down it needed to put the game away and punted it back to Cal with under just over a minute to play. A targeting penalty erased a game-winning interception as the Golden Bears drove the ball down to the Irish 18 yard line. Justin Ademilola came up with the sack with five seconds remaining. During the sack Cal quarterback lost the ball, where it was scooped up by the Irish defense. After review, it was deemed that the result of the play was a sack, overturning a scoop-and-score touchdown for the Irish defense. 

With three seconds remaining, Cal had one last Hail Mary attempt. The pass was knocked around in the end zone before eventually finding the Notre Dame Stadium turf as time expired. 

Up Next

The Irish are back in action next Saturday as they head to Chapel Hill for a matchup with the North Carolina Tar Heels at  3:30.