Cal falls to Notre Dame on the road after roller-coaster final possession
Cal turned it over twice on the final possession of the game, except neither of the turnovers counted, and then quarterback Jack Plummer nearly converted a hail mary heave to the end zone. The final drive of the Golden Bears’ trip to South Bend had just about everything.
Except for points. Almost, but at Notre Dame, the hail mary went unanswered and the Fighting Irish walked away with a 24-17 win — Notre Dame’s first win of the season and Cal’s first loss.
Coach Justin Wilcox’s Bears took a 17-14 lead into the fourth quarter as Notre Dame sputtered for most of the game, averaging just 4.6 yards a play. Quarterback Drew Pyne, though, threw a 6-yard touchdown with 9:16 to play that put the Irish up by seven.
Cal got three cracks at a tying score.
The first of those three possessions ended with a turnover on downs at the Notre Dame 22.
The second of the three started at Cal’s 7-yard-line at saw the Bears punt the ball back to Notre Dame from the 2.
A quick three-and-out from Notre Dame gave Cal one more chance, with 1:03 on the clock and the ball at the 20-yard-line.
Plummer simply overthrew tailback Jaydn Ott on the first play of the possession and was picked off. The game looked over, and Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman felt like he could finally start to celebrate.
Wow- Jack Plummer threw a pick and Notre Dame secured a 24-17 win, but a targeting call gives Cal one more chance to tie the game pic.twitter.com/7abEiJkgwL
— Pac-12 Apostles Podcast (@Pac12Apostles) September 17, 2022
Until a targeting call on Notre Dame prior to the interception negated the play and gave the ball back to Cal. With new life, Plummer completed four straight passes to move the ball 36 yards. Plummer was sacked with 15 seconds to play and no timeouts. He flipped the ball forward as he was going down, Notre Dame picked it up off the turf and returned it for a score; Plummer was ruled down before the ball came out, however, and the clock wound down 10 seconds.
Cal got one final play and Plummer heaved to the endzone — and nearly converted it.
CAL ALMOST HAD THE HAIL MARY pic.twitter.com/8RGtJbk1Yp
— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 17, 2022
Yardage was nearly identical (297-296, Notre Dame). Per-play efficiency was nearly identical (4.6-4.4). So were first downs (18-17, Cal). Notre Dame had the only turnover of the game. But the Irish also got to Plummer six times.
Constantly under duress, Plummer finished the game with a 43% completion rate — 16-for-37 for 184 yards and a score.
The Bears (2-1) return home next Saturday to host Arizona for a 2:30 p.m. PT kick on the Pac-12 Network.