MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – It was close, until the very end. It was tradition. It was pageantry. It was everything the College Football Playoff SHOULD be.
And Thursday night’s Capitol One Orange Bowl was memorable – especially for Notre Dame fans.
Coach Marcus Freeman’s Fighting Irish got a 41-yard field goal by Mitch Jeter with less than 12 seconds left to lift ND over Penn State, 27-24.
It also, of course, means that the Irish (14-1) will play for the national championship for the first time since being overwhelmed by Alabama in 2013.
Notre Dame, who has won 13 straight games (the nation’s longest win streak), will face the winner of Friday night’s Goodyear Cotton Bowl – either Texas or Ohio State – in the CFP National Championship Game on Jan. 20, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga.
IF it’s Ohio State, it’ll be Freeman facing his alma mater. Freeman is a former Ohio State player and assistant coach.
Jeter’s kick was made possible by an interception by Christian Gray moments earlier. Gray intercepted Penn State quarterback Drew Allar at the Nittany Lions’ 42-yard-line with just seconds left.
Irish quarterback Riley Leonard, who’s great grandfather played for Notre Dame in the 1940s, led the team 19 yards closer for Jeter’s kick.
Jeter, also a transfer (from South Carolina), nailed it, and before long, Irish players and coaches were storming the field.
Leonard threw for 223 yards, touchdown and two interceptions, and also ran for a touchdown and 35 yards.
His two interceptions were costly – both led to Penn State scores – but Leonard was able to rise above them. His most important throw of the fourth quarter might have been a 10-yard pass to Jaden Greathouse to secure a first down on a third-down conversion attempt on that final, game-winning drive. Earlier, with about 4 ½ minutes left, Leonard and Greathouse hooked up for a 54-yard game-tying touchdown (24-all).
Allar went 12-of-2 for 135 yards and an interception. Teammate Nick Singleton had three touchdowns and 84 yards rushing.
Penn State finished its season, arguably its best since winning a national title under Joe Paterno in 1986, with a 13-3 record.
Should Notre Dame win on Jan. 20, it’ll be the Irish’s first national championship since 1988, and the program’s 12th overall. And Freeman would become the first coach who is black to win a championship at the highest level of college football. Many remember Eddie Robinson at Grambling, who is among the winningest coaches in college football history, but Grambling is at a smaller division.
Texas and Ohio State and their fans have their own challenges: just getting to tonight’s 89th playing of the Goodyear Cotton Bowl may not be easy, after the Dallas Metroplex area got showered with snow and ice on Thursday, and early Friday morning.
