Notre Dame vs. Temple: Score, Highlights and Twitter Reaction

The No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish quieted the ambitious No. 21 Temple Owls with a resilient 24-20 win on Saturday, making a case for their worth in the College Football Playoff hunt.

Trailing for the first time with just over four minutes to play, Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer engineered a six-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped with a 17-yard score to wide receiver Will Fuller with just over two minutes remaining. 

Fighting Irish cornerback KeiVarae Russell secured the victory with an interception on 3rd-and-17 to keep Notre Dame's playoff hopes alive. Dan Wolken of USA Today and Dr. Saturday of Yahoo Sports each offered sentiment for the Owls:

The Owls' school-best start ends at seven wins. Yet despite a now-blemished record, they shouldn’t fall far in the ranks given how respectable Saturday’s loss was, per Bryan Fischer of Bleacher Report:

Notre Dame remains relevant in the playoff picture with a lone loss to No. 3 Clemson and a looming season finale against No. 8 Stanford that could woo voters. 

The Fighting Irish opened convincingly on a four-yard run by Kizer in the first six minutes—the first time in over a year the Owls had allowed a score on the opening drive, per Paul Skrbina of the Chicago Tribune.

Kizer scored again on a 79-yard touchdown run with less than five minutes to go in the half, but the Fighting Irish then went scoreless until the final minutes. 

Temple scored 10 unanswered and took its first lead on a 36-yard field goal by Austin Jones with four minutes, 45 seconds remaining. This came after the Owls forced a three-and-out then engineered a 14-play, 78-yard drive over seven minutes and 21 seconds to tie the game on a one-yard touchdown by running back Jahad Thomas at 17 earlier in the fourth. 

Temple benefited from two critical interceptions in the red zone by Praise Martin-Oguike and Tyler Matakevich, despite only converting one into a touchdown. 

ESPN College GameDay captured Matakevich from just behind the goal post:

Despite being the only ranked matchup this week, Temple was a 10.5-point underdog, per Odds Shark, and many had written the Owls off. Stewart Mandel of Fox Sports encompassed how much of a surprise the close game was:

Temple entered the game ranked behind unbeaten No. 16 Memphis and No. 18 in the American Athletic Conference. Though their playoff hopes are likely dashed, they still play Memphis in Week 12 and are in the driver’s seat to reach the inaugural AAC championship game on Dec. 5. 

Notre Dame likely won’t jump far in the rankings given the six unbeatens ahead and half the Top 10 on a bye. But the Fighting Irish are doing what they need to stay relevant. If they run the table and have their lone loss to a Clemson team that’s arguably the best in college football, they could make a hard case to be included in the final four.

Reaction

Despite a valiant effort, Temple would’ve needed help on top of running the table to reach the playoff—they’re the third-best team in their own conference, which isn’t among the Power Five. Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports sarcastically quipped that Temple would’ve been a long shot for the playoff even with a win:

"

So Danny Kanell says Temple losing to Notre Dame proves we need an 8-team playoff. K.

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) November 1, 2015"

Temple head coach Matt Rhule was proud of his team’s effort, but told John Clark of CSN Philadelphia: “There are no moral victories. We’re not here to lose."

Rhule still thought it was a phenomenal game and weekend, supplemented by the national attention. He took to Twitter to thank all those who tuned in:

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly aggressively confronted conditioning coach David Grimes on the sideline in light of what he claimed were actions that would’ve drawn a flag for verbiage towards an official, per Matt Fortuna of ESPN. Dr. Cork Gaines of Business Insider showed the exchange:

"

WOAH! Brian Kelly goes after an assistant. https://t.co/DnMrImiAKi

— Dr Cork Gaines (@CorkGaines) November 1, 2015"

Kelly explained his reaction to JJ Stankevitz of CSN Chicago: 

"

David was going to get us a 15-yard penalty, so I had to control the sideline. I wasn’t going to let that happen. He got a little too close and I backed him up out of the way to make sure that we didn’t get a 15-yard penalty.

"

Notre Dame takes on No. 23 Pittsburgh in Week 10 with another chance to bolster its résumé.