It was an absolutely brilliant move by Marcus Freeman in the biggest game of his young head coaching career.
After sending out his punt team on 4th and 1 with a little under 8 minutes remaining in the game, and holding onto a 13-point lead, the Irish rushed off all 11 players on their punt team and replaced them with 11 offensive players.
Georgia scrambled, and officials stood over the ball to allow an opportunity for Kirby Smart and his squad to sub, before the ball was eventually snapped with a second left on the play clock.
A hard count by Riley Leonard (barely) drew a Bulldog defender offsides, leading to a free play for Notre Dame, which Leonard took the opportunity to throw deep shot up the Irish sideline, but the attempt fell incomplete.
Here’s that sequence.
The move earned the Irish a first down, and they were able to maintain possession, get another first down, and milk critical time off the clock.
Immediately after the play, cameras panned to Kirby having rather enthusiastic conversations with officials where he appeared to be arguing that what Notre Dame did was not allowed.