ONWARD TO THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
If you were one of the many that thought the Orange Bowl between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Penn State Nittany Lions was going to be a low scoring rock fight… you were right — until it got to the 4th quarter.
The Irish and Nittany Lions had a moment here and there in their first few drives, but the defenses for both teams did a great job of clamping down and shutting down the drives. Notre Dame was driving a bit, but an overthrown Riley Leonard pass deep down the middle of the field was intercepted by Zakee Wheatley.
Penn State turned that turnover into the first points of the game thanks to an offensive line and running game that just punished the Irish enough to get in range to make it 3-0.
The Irish couldn’t answer offensively and were forced to punt on the next possession. Penn State went right back to work on the ground, but also started to use Tyler Warren in any way they could. PSU bullied their way down the field 90 yards on 15 plays.
With a little over two minutes to play in the first half, the Irish are desperate for points on its next drive. It looked like disaster as Anthonie Knapp goes down injured with his leg getting rolled on — and Riley Leonard goes out after looking rough from the hit. Leonard went into concussion protocol, and Steve Angeli came into the game. Angeli did enough to put the Irish into field goal position — even after taking a couple of sacks during the drive. Mitch Jeter kicked in a 41 yard field goal to make it 10-3 at the half.
Notre Dame had just 15 yards rushing at halftime.
The Irish got the ball to start the second half, and they looked like a different team. Riley Leonard returned to action and a big hook up in the air with Aneyas Williams and Jeremiyah Love cooking on the ground, got the Irish down the field 75 yards that ended with a Riley Leonard touchdown run to tie upon the game.
After some punt exchange, the Irish got back to work again and drove the ball down inside the 2 yard line. Jeremiyah Love took it the rest of the way with a very physical touchdown run to put the Irish up 17-10 early in the 4th quarter.
Then it got real dicey real quick.
Penn State answered with a touchdown drive (Nic Singleton) of its own with a HUGE assist by a referring crew that refused to throw a flag for holding. With the game now tied, Riley Leonard quickly threw an interception to give the ball back to Penn State with great field position. It looked like the Irish defense bailed Leonard out, but a Jack Kiser interception of Drew Allar was flagged for pass interference on Adon Shuler. It was the second time an Allar interception was bailed out by a Notre Dame penalty. Shortly thereafter, Nic Singleton ran it in for a touchdown to make it 24-17, Nittany Lions.
So, Riley Leonard and the Irish offense got back to work and after nickel and diming a bit down the field, Leonard found Jaden Greathouse in the middle of the field. Greathouse made one quick move and scored a 54 yard touchdown to tie up the game at 24-24.
Penn State got the ball back, but the Irish forced a three and out to get the ball back with about two and a half minutes to play. Notre Dame made it to midfield, but Penn State got its 5th sack of the game on the 3rd down play, and the Irish punted away with :47 seconds left in the game.
After getting a quick first down, Drew Allar threw over the middle, and Christian Gray intercepted the pass to give the Irish the ball — almost right where they punted from just moments before.
Riley Leonard used his legs and then he found Jaden Greathouse through the air to set up Mitch Jeter for a 41 yard field goal to put the Irish up 27-24 and a ticket to the National Championship.
More to come on OFD!