South Bend, IN-The Fighting Irish pull off their first win of the season at home over the California Bears 24-17. Cal did have one last Hail Mary attempt that fell short after it bounced off a few hands before hitting the ground.
Neither team really separated it self in the state column, with only one yard difference. Notre Dame amassed 297 total yards of offense.
“We found a way to finsh,” said Notre Dame coach Dennis Freeman, “It’s hard to win football games.”
Quarterback Drew Pyne was efficient throwing for 150 yards, 2 touchdowns completing 17/23 passes for the Irish. His favorite target for this game was Chris Tyree who caught 5 balls for 44 yards and a touchdown.
Cal’s running game kept the Irish defense honest behind DeCarlos Brooks with run for 43 yards on 5 carries to only be outshined by his quarterback Jack Plummer. Plummer ran in a touchdown, while throwing for 184 yards and a touchdown pass to J. Michael Sturdivant.
After being tied 17-17 in the 4th quarter it was Pyne who delivered a dime on a post route with 9:16 left in the game and just kept the Bears at bay for the remainder of the evening.
“We weren’t playing clean football,” said Freeman, “We are going to rely on our defensive and offensive line.”
Cal team behind coach Justin Wilcox were off to their best start in 6 years at 2-0. This was Cal first road game that took place before a hostile capacity crowd of 77,622 with only a few Bears sprinkled in.
Irish first year coach Marcus Freeman has been working hard to get his team a victory starting off 0-2. Now they move to 1-2 record for the Irish and Freeman first of many victories to come in South Bend.
Cal will host Arizona Wildcats a PAC-12 opponent on September 24, while Notre Dame will travel to North Carolina and look to get back to .500.
