The Notre Dame football season is going so well these days, they’re even executing perfect special teams' plays. Or at least special teams plays that look perfect when they’re being run.
The Irish were looking for a spark against the Virginia Cavaliers early in the first half. The two teams were both having problems getting going. The Blue and Gold were having issues getting the offense rolling because they were taking on a lesser squad, and the Cavs were having problems getting rolling because Notre Dame was just better than they were.
Then the Notre Dame football team got a spark. They ran a fake punt that caught the attention of the entire sport. Even if it didn’t count.
Notre Dame football pulls off insane trick play, and then has it called back
Notre Dame scored a touchdown on a 73-yard fake punt.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 16, 2024
While the play didn't count, it did impress Jason Garrett, who called it "one of the greatest plays I've ever seen in football." pic.twitter.com/U4pI1iiPDq
A fake punt call on a 4th-and-6 from the Irish’s 27-yard line had senior linebacker Jack Kiser take the snap and hand it to sophomore wide receiver Jordan Faison. Meanwhile Kiser went one way and the receiver to the other. The misdirection left Faison with a wide-open field where he made one cavalier miss a tackle on his way to a 73-yard touchdown run.
The Notre Dame Stadium crowd went nuts. And then they went nuts again when the play was called back.
After several minutes of discussion between the officials, the illegal formation was called on the Irish. After several minutes of trying to figure out just what was wrong with the formation and why it was called back, the NBC broadcast crew posited that since Kiser took the snap from close to center, the offensive linemen lined up needed to be wearing numbers 50-79 to be in legal position. In traditional punt formation, the offensive linemen blocking can be any number combination.
Whether that was the explanation and whether it was correct didn’t matter. The team fed off the stadium, and Marcus Freeman blew his top in such a way that he hasn’t done much this season. And ND went on a roll.
“It was an interpretation of the rule,” Freeman said after the game. “As I told (the refs) after, I calmed down and said let’s just talk and get it figured out, postgame, as far as how we interpret the rule. We were in shotgun, which we assumed we could do, and they said, ‘No, you’re not able to do that in the special teams formation you’re in.’”
In the end, the Notre Dame football team used that overturned call to find some energy. They forced a turnover after they had to punt following the overturned play. Then they built a 35-0 lead and never looked back. Now it’s on to Army and the next game where the Irish need to prove they’re as good as they’ve looked.