Escape velocity

 Sunday morning, and I'm still trying to decide where this one goes in the pantheon. Somewhere between Win One For The Gipper and Joe Montana Kicks The Flu's Ass, I'm guessing. 

The Four Horsemen might be in there somewhere. Hanratty-to-Seymour. Catholics Beat Convicts; Reggie Ho To The Rescue; Ara Picks Out A Tie.

Well, no. Not that last. Audric Estime ruined that one.

With a measly 31 seconds on the clock last night down in Durham, N.C., see, Estime did not do what Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman wanted him to do. What Freeman wanted him to do was play it safe, ala Ara: Fall down on the 1-yard line and let the Irish burn the clock down to cinders before kicking the game-winning field goal.

Aw, HELL, no. Estime saw daylight, and he ran to the daylight. Thirty yards to the end zone as the Duke students, who'd been gearing up to swarm the field, watched in dismay. Final score: Notre Dame 21, Duke 14.

And, yeah, there was some lore involved. 

Somewhere in the pantheon it will say Sam Hartman and Irish got the ball on their own 5 with less than three minutes to play and every trust-fund jackwagon in Dukedom howling mightily, and off the Irish went. Pretty soon it was fourth-and-16 with under a minute left, and the Blue Devil mob was lapping at the edges of the field,

And then ...

And then, Hartman took off running. 

Somehow he got 17 yards on the scramble, just enough for a fresh set of downs and  a few extra breaths. Twenty seconds later Estime rumbled to the end zone, and Notre Dame survived with an echo-down-the-years finish that likely will conveniently omit the fact the Irish never should have needed such a finish.

They were up 13-0 and the defense was stuffing the Dukies like a thanksgiving turkey, and then they weren't. Suddenly it was Duke staging the comeback, scoring twice in the second half to take a 14-13 lead, and set up the Hartman/Estime heroics.

In dramatic lore, as old Grantland Rice used to say, it will likely go down as The Scramble And The Ramble. Or Go Sam Go followed by Stop Audric OK Don't. Or, if you're Duke, which has its own stash of lore: Dammit We Blew It.

In any case, another week, another heart-stopping finish for ND. At this rate they'll soon be known as the Cardiac Kids.

Well, no. That one's been used.