Notre Dame is playing for a national title for the first time in 12 seasons.
Mitch Jeter scored a 41-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining. give the Fighting Irish a 27-24 victory over Penn State at the Orange Bowl Thursday evening. The Irish will face the winner of Friday’s Cotton Bowl between Ohio State and Texas.
The CFP national title game is Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
The game-winning kick came after Notre Dame’s Christian Gray intercepted Penn State’s Drew Allar with 33 seconds remaining in PSU territory. Notre Dame got the ball back with 2:27 left and had a chance to win the game on that drive, but a third-down sack by Riley Leonard forced the Irish to punt the ball back to Penn State with less than a minute to go. play. go.
This gave the Nittany Lions a fantastic chance to win the game. And instead, Allar threw a pick on the second play of the drive after Nick Singleton picked up a first down.
The Irish took over at the 42-yard line and got all three timeouts and got into makeable scoring range for Jeter on a third-down pass from Leonard to Jaden Greathouse. Two plays later, Leonard centered the ball to set up Jeter’s kick.
Penn State had a chance for a last-minute touchdown after the field goal, but the drive started with an incomplete pass and ended with a side-filling play that ended with Allar throwing the ball out of bounds .
Notre Dame last played for the national title at the end of the 2012 season, when the Irish appeared in the BCS title game against Alabama. This game went poorly for Notre Dame, as the Irish were dominated 42-14 by the Crimson Tide. A victory on January 20 would be the team’s first national title since 1988.
The misfortunes of Notre-Dame
Jeter came to South Bend from South Carolina after being a reliable kicker for the Gamecocks. However, he was limited by a groin injury for much of the season and had the worst year of his career. Jeter entered the game just 11-for-18 on field goals and Notre Dame was the worst team in the country when trying to make three points. Before the Orange Bowl, Notre Dame kickers were 13 of 24 on field goal attempts.
But Jeter recovered at the end of the season and was very good again in the playoffs. He was 2 of 3 against Indiana, 3 of 3 against Georgia and 2 of 2 against Penn State on Thursday night.
An explosive second half
The game came alive in the second half. Especially in the fourth trimester.
After scoring just 13 points in the first half, the teams combined for 31 points in the fourth quarter and 38 in the final 30 minutes. Notre Dame tied the game at 24-24 with 4:38 left when Jaden Greathouse brought down two Penn State defenders on this 54-yard TD catch.
Greathouse’s TD came after Penn State scored 14 straight points to take the lead. Notre Dame took the lead for the first time all game when Jeremiah Love scored a 2-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. But Singleton scored back-to-back seven-yard touchdowns as Penn State led 24-17.
Leonard returned in the second half after he missed the end of the second quarter while being evaluated for a concussion. The back of Leonard’s head hit the turf on a hit with 1:36 left in the second quarter and he went straight to the team’s medical tent before being replaced by Steve Angeli. Angeli led Notre Dame down the field for a field goal in Leonard’s absence, and the senior QB returned for the third quarter after being cleared by doctors.
Notre Dame’s domination on third down
The Irish were much better on third downs than Penn State on both sides of the ball.
Notre Dame converted eight of its final 11 third downs and finished 11 of 17 for the game. Penn State, meanwhile, was just 3 of 11 on third down, although the Nittany Lions converted both of their fourth-down opportunities.
The running game that has powered Notre Dame for much of the season hasn’t been as good as it usually is on Thursday nights. The Irish only rushed for 116 yards on 42 carries. That’s 2.8 yards rushing as the Irish were run on both the offensive and defensive lines in the first half.
Leonard threw two interceptions but completed 15 of 23 passes for 223 yards and the TD at Greathouse. The sophomore receiver had seven catches for 105 yards and led all receivers in the game.
Notre Dame now enters the national title game with the nation’s longest winning streak at 13 games. The Irish haven’t lost since their Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois.
Penn State’s offensive struggles
Allar struggled Thursday night as Penn State couldn’t do much in the passing game. The Nittany Lions rushed 42 times for 204 yards as Singleton scored three touchdowns. But Allar completed 12 of 23 passes for 140 yards and that fateful interception. He also had two picks that were called up due to Notre Dame penalties.
All 12 of those completions went to players who are not wide receivers. Star tight end Tyler Warren had six catches for 68 yards and the other six completions were to tight ends and a running back. Not a single receiver caught a pass for the Nittany Lions.
This has been a theme all season. Warren was the team’s leading receiver and made more than twice the catches of Harrison Wallace III, the team’s leading wide receiver. Penn State has struggled to get consistent production from its receivers and that lack of strength on the outside was glaring against a Notre Dame team that loves to play man coverage.
Allar should return to Penn State for another season and the Nittany Lions should be very good, even with players like Warren, DE Abdul Carter and others heading to the NFL. But it’s clear that Penn State needs to improve at wide receiver and needs better play from its quarterback in big games to be a serious national title contender in 2025.