Jack Coan tosses four touchdown passes in Notre Dame's overtime victory at Florida State
Notre Dame quarterback Jack Coan (17) motions in the third quarter of an NCAA college football game against Florida State on Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021, in Tallahassee. Credit: AP/Phil Sears
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Former Sayville star Jack Coan threw four touchdown passes in his Notre Dame debut and Jonathan Doerer kicked a 41-yard field goal in overtime as the No. 9 Fighting Irish escaped with a 41-38 victory Sunday night after Florida State overcame an 18-point deficit.
Florida State kicker Ryan Fitzgerald’s 37-yard attempt sailed wide left on the first overtime possession, allowing Notre Dame to run a few plays and set up Doerer’s kick.
Coan completed 26 of 35 passes for 366 yards, throwing touchdown passes to Michael Mayer (41 yards), Joe Wilkins Jr. (23 yards), Kevin Austin Jr. (37 yards) and Kyren Williams (6 yards). Notre Dame went ahead 38-20 with 4:37 to go in the third quarter.
"What’s most important is going on the road, winning the opener against a team that presented a lot of challenges," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. "We know we got work to do, but I like this team. We’ll get better and we’ll make a lot of improvement in week 2."
Notre Dame rushed for only 65 yards on 35 carries through four quarters a year after accumulating 353 rushing yards in a 42-26 win over Florida State.
"We got to run the ball better," Kelly said. "Clearly that will be an emphasis here this week. We’re not here to throw the ball all over the yard and not have a solid running game.’’
Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score but also threw three interceptions, two to Notre Dame star safety Kyle Hamilton. The Fighting Irish capitalized all three times by scoring touchdowns.
Jashaun Corbin had an 89-yard touchdown run for Florida State. Corbin finished with 144 yards on 15 carries as Florida State rushed for 264 yards.
