Florida State scored 18 unanswered points in to defeat Notre Dame 18 to 14 in the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, FL. The Irish committed 5 costly turnovers to allow Florida State to get back into the ballgame, after the Irish had a 14 to 0 lead,

Notre Dame closes out the 2011 season at 8 and 5, while the Seminoles improved to 9 and 4.

Notre Dame took an early 7-0 lead after Zeke Motta scooped up a Florida State fumble and went 29 yards for the score. This coming after Notre Dame threw the first of three interceptions on the day.

Irish WR Michael Floyd, playing in his final game, scored on a 6 yard scoring pass from QB Tommy Rees (16 of 27 for 163 yards with 1 TD and 2 interceptions) that Floyd juggled in the end zone before finally pulling it in. Floyd was injured late in the game and did not play in the final series. In the game Floyd caught 5 passes for 41 yards and a TD. He finished the season with 37 career touchdowns.

That was all the scoring for the Irish as Florida State’s FG Kicker Dustin Hopkins started the scoring with a 42 yard FG to cut Notre Dame’s lead to 14 to 3 with 9:03 to play in the third quarter.

FSU QB EJ Manuel (20 of 31 for 249 yards and 2 TDs) then engineered two scoring drives in less that 2 minutes. The first, an 18 yard strike to Bert Reed, the 2 point conversion failed, followed by a 15 yard TD pass to Rashad Greene, the 2 point conversion failed, as the Seminoles took the lead for good at 15 to 14 with 13:18 to play in the 4th quarter.

Florida State added a 29 yard FG with 8:05 to play in the game to give the Seminoles an 18 to 14 lead.

Notre Dame QB threw his second interception of the game as Terrance Brooks made the pick in the end zone for a touchback.

After the Irish defense forced Florida State to punt. A block in the back penalty on the Irish gave ND the ball at their own 5 yard line with 0:13 left. QB Tommy Rees threw an incomplete pass and then was replaced by Andrew Hendrix who threw two incomplete passes to end the game.

The Irish now with questions to answer. Will TE Tyler Eifert stay in school; who will be the starting QB in the spring and who will replace Michael Floyd, the school’s all time leading receiver.

The final score, Florida State 18 – Notre Dame 14.  The 68,305 at the game set and attendance record for the Champs Sports Bowl at Citrus Bowl Stadium

Following the Fighting Irish, I’m Len Clark