Bettors sweat out an overturned TD and a near epic Hail Mary at the end of Notre Dame's win over Cal

Bettors went on a roller coaster ride in the final seconds of Notre Dame’s 24-17 win over Cal.

The Irish closed as 13.5-point favorites over the Bears and the total closed at 41.5. Those are important numbers to know ahead of reading how the end of Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman's first win as a head coach transpired.

Cal got the ball with 1:03 to go trailing by seven and drove down to the Notre Dame 29 with less than 30 seconds to go. As QB Jack Plummer went to escape pressure on a third down, he appeared to fumble the ball as he was going to the ground. That’s how it looked, anyway. The ball was picked up by TaRiq Bracy and he raced to the end zone for what appeared to be a covering and game-clinching touchdown.

The play was immediately reviewed, however. And it was clear that Plummer was down before the ball left his hand. And even if he wasn’t, it would have been an incomplete pass.

The ruling gave Cal one more shot to get a TD and boy, did they ever get close to having a chance at a game-tying extra point or game-winning two-point conversion. Look how close this Hail Mary came to getting caught by Jeremiah Hunter.

Either the Notre Dame TD that was overturned or the Cal TD that fell incomplete would have pushed the total over 41.5. Instead, the game total finished a half point to the under. And if you had the Bears and the under, you’re a very happy bettor.

The loss drops Cal to 2-1 on the season ahead of a game against Arizona in Week 4. Notre Dame is now 1-2 and plays at North Carolina before a week off and a game against BYU in Week 6.