Whatever the outcome, whatever happens in the days ahead, Steve Angeli should have a special place in Notre Dame football lore.
Charles Jagusah too, after stepping in to play right offensive guard after not playing a single snap on offense all season due to a torn pectoral muscle suffered in the first week of training camp, in early August. And Tosh Baker, who stepped in at left tackle for injured freshman starter Anthonie Knapp in the first half.
In Notre Dame’s best showing in three tries in a College Football Playoff semifinal, the one Thursday night at Hard Rock Stadium, it was the next-man-in mentality that lifted the Irish back into the game from an early hole.
And then it was the comeback kids who put the finishing touches on Notre Dame’s 27-24 victory over 6 seed Penn State (13-3) in the Orange Bowl, sending the 7 seed Irish (14-1) into the national championship Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
The comeback kids?
Cornerback Christian Gray with an interception with 33 seconds left in a tie game. And kicker Mitch Jeter with a 41-yard field goal with 7 seconds left.
The Irish will play the winner of Friday’s Cotton Bowl between 5 seed Texas (13-2) and 8 seed Ohio State (12-2).
Angeli is ND's junior backup QB and stepped in late in the first half after starter Riley Leonard was checked out in the ND injury tent for a possible concussion. Leonard would return in the second half, but not before Angeli completed 6-of-7 passes for 44 yards to put the Irish in field goal range.
Jeter nailed that one too, a 41-yarder as the clock hit 0:00, to pull Notre Dame back within a TD at 10-3.
Jagusah was set to be ND's starting left tackle, but spent the regular season on the sidelines, and then finally resumed practicing in December. His played a five special teams snaps in ND's 23-10 upending of 2 seed Georgia, Jan. 2 in the Sugar Bowl.
On Thursday, he came in late in the first half when starter Rocco Spindler went down with an injury. Baker, meanwhile, was the first choice to replace Jagusah in training camp, but Knapp beat him out for the job.
Baker played only 64 backup snaps at tackle during the lead-up to Thursday's Orange Bowl as well as special teams.
Jeter battled back from a mid-October hip injury and finally found full health and his confidence during ND's playoff run. The South Carolina grad transfer is a combined 7-of-8 on field goals in the three playoff games, and finally resumed kicking off Jan. 2 in the Sugar Bowl.
Gray, meanwhile, got picked on in coverage repeatedly and successfully in ND's 49-35 road in at USC in the regular-season finale, that is until he had a 99-yard pick-6 late in that game to seal the win.
He had an interception in the first half wiped out by a defensive holding call on him, but the second pick with 33 seconds left was clean. The set up Notre Dame on the Penn State 42-yard line with three timeouts to get into Jeter's range.
• Talk with Notre Dame fans on The Insider Lounge.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Podbean or Pocket Casts.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports channel on YouTube.
• Follow us on Twitter: @insideNDsports, @EHansenND and @TJamesND.
• Like us on Facebook: Inside ND Sports
• Follow us on Instagram: @insideNDsports
