Notre Dame football returned to a championship level in the Orange Bowl on Thursday night, its Leprechaun mascot dancing deep into a historic night at Hard Rock Stadium.
The Irish came from behind twice to beat Penn State 27-24 in the College Football Playoff semifinal of the newly expanded 12-team playoff in Miami Gardens.
“We knew this would be a heavyweight fight,” said Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman, who became the first Black and Asian American head coach to lead a team to a national championship game at the FBS level. “I told our guys, we’ve been here in this position before, and they got the job done.”
Notre Dame, just as it had in its Sugar Bowl win over Georgia, proved opportunistic at key moments, capitalizing on its nation-leading 32nd forced turnover in the final minute to set up the game-winning field goal.
The Fighting Irish will play in the CFP Championship game Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium against the winner of Friday night’s Cotton Bowl matchup between Ohio State and SEC runner-up Texas.
Freeman’s South Korean mother, Chong Freeman, met his father, African American serviceman Michael Freeman, during Michael’s Air Force service time at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Marcus Freeman put his place in history into perspective on the trophy stand.
“I don’t ever want to take attention away from the team,” Freeman said. “It’s an honor, and I hope all coaches — minorities, Black, Asian, white, it doesn’t matter, great people — get opportunities to lead young men like this. But this isn’t about me; this is about us.”
It took all Notre Dame (14-1) had to overcome the Big Ten runner-up Nittany Lions (13-2).
There were four lead changes and three ties, with the teams’ offenses heating up to combine for 31 points in the fourth quarter after entering the final period deadlocked at 10-10.
Notre Dame’s Christian Gray intercepted Penn State quarterback Drew Allar at the Nittany Lions’ 42-yard line with 33 seconds left to set up Mitch Jeter’s game-winning, 41-yard field goal with 7 seconds left.
It was the Irish’s FBS-leading 32nd takeaway of the season, and it gave quarterback and Orange Bowl Offensive MVP Riley Leonard all the field position he needed to get his team in position to win.
“(Coach) said history is written by conquerors,” Leonard said in his postgame ESPN interview, when asked about the message Freeman delivered at halftime with Notre Dame trailing 10-3. “We’re holding the pen; we decided how we wanted to write our history.”
Leonard finished 15-of-23 passing for 223 yards with a touchdown and an interception, along with 35 yards rushing on 18 attempts.
Notre Dame’s victory came in the same stadium where the program last played for a national championship — Jan. 7, 2013, when a Brian Kelly-coached team lost 42-14 to Nick Saban’s Alabama in what was then the BCS Championship game.
Much has changed in college football since then, most notably NIL laws, which allow athletes to be paid, and a transfer portal that enables players to operate as free agents in choosing where they play each season.
The Irish’s tradition-rich program, which has the benefit of operating as an independent with its own network TV contract (through NBC, worth a reported $50 million annually), has been among those cashing in on the new NCAA legislation.
Leonard transferred from Duke, while Jeter — who has kicked five consecutive field goals of more than 40 yards in the wins over UGA and Penn State — is a transfer from South Carolina.
The bond between Notre Dame’s players, even with the team’s substantial transfer-portal talent, has become a calling card for the program as it looks to win its first national championship since Lou Holtz held up the big trophy in 1988. Freeman, a former Ohio State and NFL linebacker who turned 39 less than an hour after beating Penn State on Thursday, was only 2 years old at that time.
The Notre Dame coach might have felt himself aging a little quicker at the onset of the Orange Bowl, as Penn State surged to a 10-0 lead in the second quarter. Nittany Lions coach James Franklin appeared on his way to breaking a trend that now reflects a 1-18 all-time record against teams in the AP top five. (The Irish finished the season ranked No. 3.)
Penn State appeared on solid ground with a 10-3 halftime lead and the status of Leonard unknown after a hard hit sent him to be checked for a concussion late in the second quarter. Irish backup quarterback Steve Angeli was 6-of-7 passing during Leonard’s brief stint on the sideline, driving Notre Dame for a field goal for its first points of the night.
But it was Leonard, with his dual-threat abilities, posing the greatest challenge.
Leonard, who finished 15-of-23 passing for 223 yards with a touchdown and an interception — along with his 35 yards rushing on 18 attempts — bounced back quickly in the second half.
Leonard, with his dual-threat abilities, bounced back quickly in the second half. The Irish opened the third quarter with an eight-play, 75-yard drive and tied the game on Leonard’s 3-yard touchdown run. It was his 16th of the season, a program record for a quarterback, his program-QB-record 16th of the season.
Notre Dame took its first lead at the start of the fourth quarter when tailback Jeremiyah Love powered in from 2 yards out with 14:07 left in the fourth quarter to make it 17-10.
However, the Nittany Lions weren’t finished, as they marched down the field for consecutive touchdown drives to reclaim the lead at 24-17 with 7:55 left on Nick Singleton’s second and third touchdown runs of the night. Both scores came from 7 yards out.
Singleton sparked the Penn State offense throughout the game, as the Nittany Lions outrushed the Irish 204-116. Singleton carried 15 times for 84 yards and three TDs and reeled in two passes for 33 yards.
Tyler Warren, recognized as the Mackey Award winner as the nation’s best tight end, accounted for most of the rest of Penn State’s offense, catching six passes for 75 yards and carrying the ball twice for 21 yards.
Notre Dame’s unheralded passing game stole the spotlight with the game in the balance, as the Irish tied the score with 4:38 left when Leonard connected with a wide-open Jaden Greenhouse for a 54-yard touchdown pass after a Penn State defender slipped.
Penn State’s Drew Allar — a 6-foot-5 rifle-armed junior — had the opportunity for last-minute heroics, taking over at his own 28 with 47 seconds left and the Nittany Lions holding all three of their timeouts.
But Allar, who finished 12-of-23 passing for 135 yards, threw an ill-advised pass across the middle after the Irish blitzed, and Notre Dame took advantage with the pivotal interception.
“I was going through my progression, and honestly, I was trying to throw it at his feet,” Allar said. “I should have just thrown it away when I saw that the first two progressions were not open. I just didn’t execute what I was trying to do.”
Notre Dame’s second-half offensive eruption was impressive, a result of halftime adjustments and staying on schedule.
The Irish were 11-of-17 on third-down conversions, including 8-for-8 on those of 4 yards or less.
“The two biggest points of the game are, in my opinion — third downs, we weren’t effective enough on third down,” said Franklin, whose offense was as inefficient as his defense, converting just 3-of-11. “And then the middle eight (minutes around halftime). (Their) field goal right before the half was big … and then to open the second half with them going down and scoring a touchdown.”
The Irish enjoyed the same sort of midgame magic in their 23-10 upset of SEC champion Georgia, scoring 17 of their points in a 54-second span at the end of the second quarter and start of the third.
“We had to make some adjustments, which we did, and we had to try to calm some things down,” Freeman said. “The rushing attack truly helped us open some things in the passing game in that second half. You know what? Riley Leonard just executed.
“The wideouts executed. The O-line did their job, tight ends played well and you find a way to win it in a game-winning field goal.”
