Notre Dame pulled off a nail biting victory in Tallahassee on Sunday night, allowing Florida State back into a game they appeared to have wrapped up at 38-20. In an opening game replacing so many quality players we’re inclined to take wins however they come, but the Irish will likely need to be sharper in several areas to make another run back to the College Football Playoff. For more information on the statistics we will be using, please check out this analytics primer that explains our methodology.
The Irish got a great start on Michael Mayer’s fourth down touchdown on their opening drive, but the Jashaun Corbin 89 yard touchdown threw cold water on any ideas of a wire to wire Irish blowout.