SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame waited even later than the last minute to pull out this finish.
Robert Hughes scored on a 1-yard run in overtime and safeties Harrison Smith and Kyle McCarthy jarred the ball loose from Washington receiver D’Andre Goodwin near the goal line on fourth-and-19 as the Fighting Irish beat the Huskies 37-30 on Saturday.
It was the fourth straight game decided in the final 60 seconds for the Irish, the last three of which were wins.
“I’m just happy, really happy for these kids. They just keep fighting and fighting and fighting,” Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said.
The Irish (4-1) stayed in it with a pair of goal-line stands in the second half.
The first was late in the third quarter when the Irish held the Huskies (2-3) for no points on two plays from the 1-yard line on a pair of keepers by Jake Locker.
Chris Polk appeared to give the Huskies a 30-22 lead with a 6-yard TD run with 7:07 left, but after a review he was ruled down on the half-yard line.
“I felt like I got in the end zone,” said Polk, who ran for a career-high 136 yards.
The Huskies couldn’t advance the ball on three tries, but got a fresh set of downs when Notre Dame 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, with Locker being stuffed for no gain from the 1. Erik Folk kicked a 24-yard field goal to cap the 19-play drive that ate up 9 minutes and 19 seconds.
“The whole game came down to that double goal-line stand,” Weis said.
Jimmy Clausen was 23-of-31 passing for a career-high 422 yards, the fifth-highest passing yardage in five seasons under Weis.
