Notre Dame scored a touchdown on a pass from Tyler Buchner to Mitchell Evans with less than two minutes left on Friday and captured a 45-38 victory over South Carolina in a wild Gator Bowl.
The Fighting Irish appeared poised to take a two-score lead but Buchner threw a pick-six.
O’Donnell Fortune plucked the pass and took it 100 yards to tie the game at 38 after the PAT.
Buchner didn’t flinch, however, and led a 12-play drive that ate up 6:04 on the clock and 80 yards.
He connected with Evans, who had not caught a pass in the regular season but had three receptions in the Gator Bowl.
Buchner to Evans
Back up 7️⃣#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/59Slvz5F9K
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) December 31, 2022
GAMECOCKS 100-YARD PICK-SIX 😱 pic.twitter.com/SSAYn7fTfz
— ESPN (@espn) December 31, 2022
Notre Dame erupted for 559 yards of total offense. The Irish had three turnovers but managed to hold off the Gamecocks’ last hope, which died on a fourth-and-36 that went incomplete.
