MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Notre Dame cornerback Christian Gray caught more passes from Penn State quarterback Drew Allar than any of his wide receivers.
Allar fought back tears in the postgame pass conference when trying to describe what happened when he threw an interception to Gray late in the fourth quarter that eventually to Notre Dame kicking the game-winning field goal with seven seconds remaining in a 27-24 College Football Playoff semifinal victory.
Sixth-seeded Penn State (13-3) opened the drive with a 13-yard run by running back Nicholas Singleton to give the Nittany Lions hope they could march down the field in the final minute of a tie game and squeak out an Orange Bowl win at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. But that hope soon turned to regret after Allar dropped back from his own 28-yard line.
Allar looked left at the start, where All-America tight end Tyler Warren, who led Penn State with six catches for 75 yards, ran his route to the outside as wide receiver Harrison Wallace III ran upfield. Tight coverage by defensive back Rod Heard II on Warren and cornerback Leonard Moore and safety Adon Shuler on Wallace caused Allar to look elsewhere. Allar found wide receiver Omari Evans trying to cut to the middle of the field from the right side, but he didn’t have much more time to make the throw. Linebacker Jaylen Sneed pressured and hit Allar as he released the ball.
Evans never had a chance to catch it. Gray read the route, dove to corral the ball and gave Notre Dame possession at the Penn State 42-yard line with 33 seconds remaining. Allar intended to throw the ball low where only Evans would be able to attempt a catch. Just like the rest of the night, a Penn State wide receiver didn’t catch one of Allar’s passes.
“I was going through my progression, got to the backside, and honestly I was just trying to throw it at his feet, but I should have just thrown it away,” Allar said. “I felt the first two progressions not open just because of the situation we were in, but I was just trying to throw it at Omari's feet, but just didn't execute what I was trying to do.”
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Gray intercepted an Allar pass in the first quarter, but a holding penalty he committed before the throw wiped out the play. This one stood.
“That's what Christian Gray does,” said Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman. “He makes plays when it matters the most.”
Notre Dame’s offense put kicker Mitch Jeter in position to win the game by gaining 19 yards in six plays. Quarterback Riley Leonard ran for seven yards on the first two plays before completing a critical third-down pass to wide receiver Jaden Greathouse for 10 yards. From there, seventh-seeded Notre Dame (14-1) just wanted to run some clock and set Jeter up in the middle of the field, so Leonard spiked it on first down, kneeled on second down and rushed for two yards on third down.
Then Jeter executed the 41-yard field goal to secure a Notre Dame victory. Jeter, who dealt with a groin injury and was 6-of-12 on field goals in the regular season, has now made seven of his eight field goal attempts in the College Football Playoff. He made two Thursday after making all three attempts in the Sugar Bowl win over Georgia. The Irish will await the winner of Friday’s Cotton Bowl between eighth-seeded Ohio State (12-2) and fifth-seeded Texas (13-2) for the National Championship Game, which will be played Jan. 20 in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“I was more concerned with the protection than I am with Mitch Jeter,” said Freeman, whose team has allowed four blocked kicks this season. “Our field goal protection has been a big point of emphasis the last few weeks, and that was what I kept thinking about. And when we had that timeout, I was reminding them of the fundamentals to execute the protection protecting the field goal.
“I leave Mitch alone. When he's in his lane, let him do what he does. But I had to make sure those big guys didn't get lost in the moment. It was about execution in that moment, and they did a great job in protection.”
Jeter fittingly won Notre Dame the game after he helped give the Irish life as time expired in the first half. Notre Dame fell behind 10-0 on a five-yard touchdown run by Singleton with 2:18 left in the first half and trailed by two scores for the first time this season.
At that point, starting left tackle Anthonie Knapp was already knocked out of the game with an apparent left ankle injury. Then starting quarterback Riley Leonard and right guard Rocco Spindler took spots to the sideline after the same play, an incomplete pass in which Leonard took a big hit with 1:38 remaining in the second quarter.
Spindler, who was already playing through an injured right ankle, limped to the sideline. Leonard was escorted to the injury tent to get tested for a concussion. Sophomore Charles Jagusah, who suffered a torn pectoral in preseason camp and entered a game for the first time this season, replaced Spindler. Junior Steve Angeli replaced Leonard as he did in nine games earlier this season.
But the magnitude of this appearance for Angeli was significantly higher than anything he’d done all season. He rose to the occasion by completing six of his seven passes for 44 yards on the drive. He took two sacks, which cost the Irish 12 yards, but he still put Jeter in position to give Notre Dame its first points with a 41-yard field goal.
Leonard, who returned to the game in the second half, couldn’t have been more complimentary of the job Angeli did in his brief absence.
“This is a guy who has kind of waited his turn and all year has prepared like he's a starting quarterback every single week,” Leonard said. “[He] showed a lot of maturity, and he helps me out a lot. He is a guy on the sideline that knows exactly what the defense is doing.
“He's a good friend of mine, and I appreciate him a lot. So, for him to go in and drive them down the field [and get] three points before half, that was big.”
The fact that Angeli stuck around at Notre Dame shouldn’t be lost in his performance. Penn State lost its backup quarterback, Beau Pribula, to the transfer portal following the end of the regular season. The Nittany Lions didn’t have the same luxury Notre Dame did with an experienced Angeli ready to step into the spotlight.
“I think playing quarterback here and with the culture of our room, my coach prepared me well to step in there,” Angeli said. “It's really just about my teammates, trying to be the best I can for those guys and putting them in the best position. We’re leaning on them and doing the best they can for me.”
Despite all the injury carnage of the first half, which also included starting wide receiver Beaux Collins exiting the game and not returning, Notre Dame only trailed by a touchdown at halftime.
“We didn't have great production in the first half, and it was a seven-point game,” Freeman said. “I told them, we get the ball the first series of the second half, and we've just to go out and execute on this play. But I want them to understand, we did not play to our standard in the first half. And credit to Penn State for what they did on both sides of the ball.
“It was a seven-point game. It did not feel like that going into the locker room, but it was a seven-point game. And our guys went out there and performed in the second half.”
Notre Dame’s been a dominant team in the middle eight minutes of games this season. In the first 14 games, Notre Dame outscored opponents 145-10 in the last four minutes of the first half and first four minutes of the second half. The Irish technically lost that battle 7-3 in Thursday’s win, but that’s only because Notre Dame’s first touchdown came 4:14 into the second half.
“You looked at Notre Dame when we study them, they're one of the better middle eight teams in the country,” said Penn State head coach James Franklin. “So were we. But that was a major factor in the game.”
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Notre Dame came out of the locker room and executed an eight-play, 75-yard drive capped by three-yard touchdown run by Leonard. After Penn State limited ND to 15 rushing yards on 13 carries in the first half, the Nittany Lions allowed 44 yards on seven carries on the first drive of the second half.
Neither team scored for the rest of the third quarter. Then the game suddenly turned into a shootout in the final quarter.
Running back Jeremiyah Love, who played through his right knee injury while wearing a protective brace, gave Notre Dame its first lead with an incredible two-yard touchdown run on which he refused to be denied. Love managed to stay on his feet after one defender tried to tackle him by diving at his legs. Then Love fought through three more defenders before stretching the ball out across the goal line.
Love finished with 11 carries for 45 yards and one catch for six yards.
“There was maybe a little doubt on my end, but the closer we got to the game I said, ‘OK, he's going to give it a go,’” Freeman said. “The statistics maybe weren't there in the first half, but him being out there means something to everybody on that offense and everybody on our team. In the second half he made some ‘Jeremiyah Love’ plays.
“It speaks volumes to the heart he has. He gave everything he had to this place. He did not have to play today. Nobody would have batted an eye. But he put the team in front of himself and how he felt. And we've got a whole bunch of guys like that in that locker room, and that's why we're in this position.”
Penn State responded with a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, which Singleton ended with a seven-yard touchdown run. Then Leonard gave the ball right back to Penn State by throwing his second interception of the game. This time defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton dropped into coverage to intercept the pass intended for tight end Mitchell Evans.
Two plays after a controversial pass interference penalty on ND safety Adon Shuler, Singleton returned to the end zone for another seven-yard touchdown run and his third score of the game.
Notre Dame came right back with a seven-play, 81-yard touchdown drive on which wide receiver Jaden Greathouse carried the load. He caught a pair of passes for 17 yards to avoid a three-and-out for the Irish. Then he forced a pair of Penn State defenders to slip — cornerback Cam Miller when trying to cover Greathouse and safety Jaylen Reed when trying to tackle him after a wide-open catch — on a 54-yard touchdown reception to tie the game at 24 with 4:38 remaining in regulation.
Greathouse led Notre Dame with seven catches for 105 yards and one touchdown. He became the first ND wide receiver to surpass 100 receiving yards in a game since Rico Flores Jr. reached 102 yards against Wake Forest on Nov. 18, 2023.
“We had to make some adjustments, which we did,” Freeman said. “We had to try to calm some things down. The rushing attack truly helped us open some things in the passing game in that second half.
“You know what? Riley just executed. The wideouts executed. The O-line did their job. Tight ends played well. And you find a way to win it with a game-winning field goal.”
After being limited to 122 total yards in the first half, Notre Dame accumulated 261 in the second half — 160 in the air and 101 on the ground.
"Just shows the toughness and the grittiness of our offense,” said Mitchell Evans, who caught five passes for 58 yards. “We weren't executing as we should, obviously. But you know, that shows the toughness physically and the mentality that we have. It's all insane, our trust and the love that we have together.
“As you can see, I didn't even doubt it for a second that I knew our team had to come together and find a way to win this game."
The 58 receiving yards from Evans could have been a team high in some games this season for Notre Dame. The Irish only threw for 90 yards in the entire Georgia game a week ago. But Leonard, who was sacked three times, made plays in the air in addition to his two big mistakes. Leonard finished 15-of-23 for 223 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
On the other sideline, Allar finished 12-of-23 for 135 yards while being sacked just once. He could have had a three-yard touchdown pass to Singleton, who totaled 84 rushing yards on 15 carries and 33 receiving yards on two catches, on Penn State’s first scoring drive, but Singleton dropped the ball thrown slightly behind him. Singleton was wide open heading toward the goal line.
Penn State had to settle for a 20-yard field goal instead of the touchdown.
“I'm not going to talk about specifically, obviously, what happened on that play,” Franklin said, “but first of all, you've got to give Notre Dame a ton of credit. [Defensive coordinator] Al Golden, Penn State grad, you've got to give him a ton of credit. We watched them on tape. We had so much appreciation for how they played defense, and they make you earn it, and we had some opportunities that we didn't capitalize on.
“And we'll go back and watch the tape and struggle with it and be upset because there's things that we could have done better.”
Like completing a pass to a wide receiver. Though that might be easier said than done against the nation’s top pass efficiency defense. But Gray, who’s led by defensive backs coach Mike Mickens, makes it sound cut and dry.
“Coach Mick has always told us challenge, challenge, challenge every time,” Gray said. “And we just did our job, and we just kept them to zero catches … so, yeah.”
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