Quarterback Sam Hartman makes his Notre Dame Stadium debut Saturday. The Fighting Irish host the Tennessee State Tigers at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
Follow along below for live updates of the game.
First quarter
• Tennessee State won the toss and deferred. Hartman and the Irish offense is on the field first.
• Sam Hartman showed off his wheels for the first time in a Notre Dame uniform with a scrambling gain of nine on third and medium. He also went 2-of-2 for 18 yards before freshman running back Jeremiyah Love scored his first career touchdown from 36 yards out.
SCORE: Irish 7, Tigers 0
First collegiate touchdown for @JeremiyahLove 🫡#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/YVrSZyEq7Y
• A pass interference penalty on Thomas Harper keeps the Irish on the field. It came on an incomplete pass on third down.
• Tennessee State eventually goes 55 yards on 15 plays to get on the board via a 38-yard field goal.
SCORE: Irish 7, Tigers 3
• Notre Dame running back Devyn Ford fumbles on the ensuing kickoff. Tennessee State recovers. Ford spends some extra time down on the field. He got hit in the head, but he initiated some of the contact himself. No targeting was called. The crowd at Notre Dame stadium cheers when Ford is able to sit up with the help of trainers. The fans get even louder when he pops up and runs off the field on his own power.
• Notre Dame escapes the turnover by blocking a field goal attempt. Jason Onye got his hand on the ball. Irish head coach Marcus Freeman absolutely loved it. The Irish have first and 10 from their own 31 to start the second quarter.
Second quarter
• A 50-yard run from Audric Estimé gets the Irish in business. Hartman finishes the drive off with a leaping, somersaulting dive into the end zone on a five-yard quarterback keeper.
SCORE: Irish 14, Tigers 3
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Sam Hartman. pic.twitter.com/OshNcyE4th
• Notre Dame gets the ball right back with a Ramon Henderson interception. The ball is thrown up in the air when the quarterback takes a hit from Irish defensive tackle Howard Cross III. Henderson has to sprint across the field to get there and make a diving pick.
• Notre Dame only needs four plays to put another touchdown on the board. Hartman goes 3-for-3 on the drive, and on the last two plays of it he completes a 27-yard pass to Jayden Thomas and a 24-yard touchdown to Chris Tyree to improve to 7-of-7 for 91 yards on the day.
SCORE: Irish 21, Tigers 3
• Notre Dame’s next big chunk play is a 23-yard completion from Hartman to Thomas. Estimé gets his second touchdown rush of the season from five yards out to extend the Irish lead.
SCORE: Irish 28, Tigers 3
• TSU’s kick return goes for 58 yards to put the Tigers in plus territory.
• Antonio Carter gets ejected for targeting. TSU is set up on the five yard line after a 17-yard gain plus the penalty yardage. The Notre Dams fans are not happy with the call, especially after the hit on Ford wasn’t called a foul earlier on. Boos are raining down from the stands in abundance.
• Tennessee State seems flustered by the situation and gets flagged for a false start then has to take a timeout facing first and goal from the 10. Then, ahead of third down and after another timeout, this one from Notre Dame, Tennessee State is called for another false start.
• To cap off a tumultuous sequence following the targeting call, Tennessee State misses another field goal. The Irish are still up 28-3 and have 53 seconds to put more on the board.
• After zero catches for Notre Dame tight ends in nearly the first six quarters of the season, Sam Hartman finds Mitchell Evans three times in a row. Then he caps off the drive with a nice dart over the top of a defender to Holden Staes, another tight end.
SCORE: Irish 35, Tigers 3
Third quarter
• Sophom*ore quarterback Steve Angeli has replaced Hartman for the entire second half. He started his day 2-for-3 for six yards, but under his direction Notre Dame had to punt for the first time all season six and a half quarters into the campaign.
• Angeli is up to 3-for-4 for 12 yards. He’s mostly handing the ball off as Notre Dame milks clock. Interestingly, Estimé is still getting a lot of work in a game that is just a formality at this point.
• Angeli’s best throw of the day so far is a dart to Evans on third and eight. He found his tight end over the middle to move the chains.
• Angeli evaded multiple defenders in the backfield, spun to safety and flipped the ball out to Jadarian Price along the sideline. Price did the rest, making a man miss and going 40 yards to the house for the second touchdown of his career.
SCORE: Irish 42, Tigers 3
• Clarence Lewis intercepted a poor pass and took it to the house for a touchdown.
SCORE: Irish 49, Tigers 3
• Angeli and his running backs. What a combo. Angeli found sophom*ore Gi’Bran Payne on a short toss, and Payne sprinted 42 yards to the end zone for a touchdown. Wide receiver Matt Salerno pancaked a defender to seal the score.
SCORE: Irish 56, Tigers 3
