Notre Dame’s Christian Gray (29) celebrates his interception of Penn State QB Drew Allar which helped set up the winning field goal for the Fighting Irish on Thursday in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images)
Notre Dame is playing for a national title for the first time in 12 seasons.
Mitch Jeter made a 41-yard field goal with seven seconds left to give the Fighting Irish a 27-24 win over Penn State in the Orange Bowl on Thursday night. The Irish will play the winner of Friday’s Cotton Bowl featuring Ohio State vs. Texas.
The CFP national title game will take place Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
The winning kick came after Notre Dame’s Christian Gray intercepted Penn State’s Drew Allar with 33 seconds to go in PSU territory. Notre Dame got the ball back with 2:27 to go and had a chance to win the game on that drive, but a third-down sack of Riley Leonard forced the Irish to punt the ball back to Penn State with less than a minute to go.
That 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 had gained a first down.
The Irish took over at the 42 yard-line and had all three timeouts and got into a makeable field goal 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-ditch touchdown after the field goal but the drive started with an incomplete pass and ended with a lateral-filled play that concluded with Allar flinging 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 vs. Alabama. That game went badly for Notre Dame, as the Irish were dominated 42-14 by the Crimson Tide. A win on Jan. 20 would be the team’s first national title since 1988.
Jeter arrived in South Bend from South Carolina after he was 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-of-18 on field goals and Notre Dame was the worst team in the nation when trying for three points. Before the Orange Bowl, Notre Dame kickers were 13-of-24 on field goal attempts.
But Jeter got healthy at the end of the season and has been very good again in the postseason. He was 2-of-3 against Indiana, 3-of-3 against Georgia and 2-of-2 against Penn State on Thursday night.
The game came to life in the second half. Especially in the fourth quarter.
After just 13 points were scored 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 to go when Jaden Greathouse caused two Penn State defenders to fall down on this 54-yard TD catch.
Greathouse’s TD came after Penn State had scored 14 straight points to take the lead. Notre Dame took the lead for the first time all game when Jeremiyah Love scored a 2-yard TD early in the fourth quarter. But Singleton scored back-to-back seven-yard TDs as Penn State went up 24-17.
Leonard returned for 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 to go in the second quarter and he went directly into 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 came back for the third quarter after he was cleared by doctors.
The Irish were much better on third downs than Penn State on both sides of the ball.
Notre Dame converted eight of its last 11 third downs and finished 11-of-17 for the game. Penn State, meanwhile, was just 3-of-11 on third down, though the Nittany Lions converted both of their fourth-down opportunities.
The run game that has powered Notre Dame for much of the season wasn’t as great as it typically is on Thursday night. The Irish rushed for just 116 yards on 42 carries. That’s 2.8 yards a rush as the Irish were bossed on both the offensive and defensive lines in the first half.
Leonard threw two interceptions but was 15-of-23 passing for 223 yards and the TD to 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 win streak at 13 games. The Irish haven’t lost since a Week 2 defeat to Northern Illinois.
Allar struggled Thursday night as Penn State couldn’t do much in the pass game. The Nittany Lions rushed 42 times for 204 yards as Singleton scored three touchdowns. But Allar was 12-of-23 passing for 140 yards and that fateful interception. He also had two picks that were called back due to Notre Dame penalties.
All of those 12 completions went to players who are not wide receivers. Star tight end Tyler Warren had six grabs for 68 yards and the other six completions were to tight ends and running back. Not a single receiver caught a pass for the Nittany Lions.
That’s been a theme all season. Warren was the team’s leading receiver and had more than twice the catches of Harrison Wallace III, the team’s leading wide receiver. Penn State struggled to get consistent production from its receivers and that lack of strength outside was glaring against a Notre Dame team that loves to play man coverage.
Allar is set to 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 upgrade at wide receiver and needs better play from its quarterback in big games to be a serious national title contender in 2025.
