Fighting Irish perform some good overtime work

SOUTH BEND, IND. — Robert Hughes scored on a one-yard run in overtime, safeties Harrison Smith and Kyle McCarthy jarred the ball loose from Washington receiver D’Andre Goodwin near the goal line on fourth and 19, and Notre Dame defeated Washington, 37-30, Saturday.

It was the fourth consecutive game decided in the last 60 seconds for the Fighting Irish, the last three of which were victories.

The Irish (4-1) stayed in it with two goal-line stands in the second half.

The first was late in the third quarter when the Irish stopped the Huskies (2-3) on two plays from the one on two keepers by Jake Locker.

“The first one was so close we almost challenged it, so we came with a different formation again,” Coach Steve Sarkisian said. “It was so close. It felt almost odd when you look at both tries.”

Chris Polk, who had a career-high 136 yards, appeared to give the Huskies a 30-22 lead with a six-yard touchdown run with 7 minutes 7 seconds left, but after a review, he was ruled down on the half-yard line.

The Huskies couldn’t advance the ball on three tries but got a fresh set of downs when nose tackle Ian Williams was called for roughing the snapper on the field-goal attempt. The Huskies couldn’t get it in on the next three plays either and Erik Folk kicked a 24-yard field goal.