Barely: FSU Escapes With Win Over Notre Dame

It was a heck of a game under the lights in Tallahassee Saturday, almost living up to the attempt at hype.

Florida State held on to beat Notre Dame 31-27 in a game that ended on a offensive pass interference call.

The Irish thought they had the game won when QB Everett Golson on 4th down, lofted a 2-yard TD pass to Corey Robinson with 13 seconds left in the game. The TD would have been a game winner.

But the referees called a penalty against one of Notre Dame's split receivers appeared to block the defender trying to cover Robinson.

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly was apoplectic saying "We coach that play every day. And we do it legally and that's the way we coach it. We don't coach illegal plays".

Well, it sure looked like a pick. Instead of bouncing the defender the receiver drove the guy backwards.

Anyway...

The maligned Jameis Winston was impressive for Florida State, throwing for 273 yards and 2 touchdowns. His passing was needed as the Seminoles were only able to run for 50 yards.

It also sets FSU up for a straight run to the College Football Playoff. They will finish the season with a run of crappy ACC teams and finish the regular season with the hapless Florida Gators. They'll likely end up undefeated.

Your highlights from ESPN:

Ruh Roh: Notre Dame Football Players Being Investigated for Academic Fraud (UPDATED With Dismissals And Vacated Wins...???)

((ht: yahoo.com/forde))

T-Minus two weeks to the kickoff of this years college football season and it's beginning to look like Notre Dame may be without 4 key players.

Yahoo Sports reporter Pat Forde says that the four are being investigated in a probe looking for academic fraud.

Wide Receiver DaVaris Daniels, DB KeiVarae Russell, DL Ishaq Williams and LB Kendall Moore are all being checked out for what Forde terms an "Honor Code Violation".

Read Forde's full story on Yahoo.com RIGHT HERE

No word yet from Coach Brian Kelly on where things go from here but how they progress will be interesting to see. Daniels is one of the teams primary receivers and Russell a starting cornerback, the other two players have a chance at starting, but nothing guaranteed.

The Irish this year get back 2012 Quarterback Everett Golson who sat out 2013 due to an academic issue as well.

UPDATE: Fox Sports is reporting that the four players have been dismissed

The South Bend Tribune is reporting that the scale of the alleged fraud is comparable to the current investigation at the University of North Carolina.

Eric Hansen's piece also says that a former player or players may even be involved.

1630 UPDATE: Campus Insiders' Ray Crawford has a breaker on just how bad this could get...


And here's 120Sports Dylan McGorty with what they know

Post by 120 Sports.

ICYMI: Notre Dame Starting QB: Gone (Updated)

It's good to be king.

But it's probably not so good to be Brian Kelly, a member of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish or now former starting QB Everett Golson.

That's because Golson is mysteriously "no longer enrolled" at the school.

The belief is that Golson is an academic casualty, but thus far the school, nor anyone else is confirming that "on the record". All the school would say is that he's "No longer enrolled".

Golson was pretty good this past year as a redshirt freshman, leading the Irish to the BCS title game, which they lost to Alabama.

Options are a bit slim for Irish coach Brian Kelly as prized recruit Gunner Keil bailed out on him over the summer leaving him with the questionable Tommy Rees and a couple other recruits to battle for the starting job on a team most pollsters will still over-rate whether they are any good or not.

((Updated 4:00 p.m 5/26--ESPN's Twitter feed states that according to Tom Rinaldi, Golson was suspended for academics and wants to come back))