On Thursday night the Notre Dame Fighting Irish faced the Penn State Nittany Lions in Hard Rock stadium, Miami Florida. With Notre Dame being ranked number five in the country and Penn state being ranked number four this was considered a close game between the two. The game took place with the Irish coming off a 23-10 victory against number 2 ranked Georgia Bulldogs and Penn State coming off a 31-14 victory against Ashton Jeanty’s Boise State.
The Penn State Nittany Lion’s start off by getting the ball on their own 15. Penn State starts off with initially running the ball and it’s working. They get all the way up to the 50 yard line just for Notre Dame’s defense to make a stop turning the ball over to the Irish offense. But Penn State’s defense stops the Irish and now it’s Penn State ball again, but it was an excellent punt so they started on their own 2 yard line. Then, Penn State gets stopped and has to punt yet again back to the Irish. Next, Notre Dame throws an interception turning the ball over AGAIN. But Penn State proceeds to march down the field and get to the 10 yard line. They get held to a 3rd and 4th and it’s a throw to the end of the end zone and it’s intercepted! It was called back to pass interference due to the CB pushing the WR out of the way to get the interception. Ultimately the first quarter ended 0-0, Penn state 2nd and goal.
The second quarter started off hot with a goal line stop by the Irish defense which made Penn State settle for a field goal making the score 3-0 Penn State. The Irish offense came back onto the field and started gaining some solid yardage. They then get stopped and turn over the ball to Penn State. Penn State seemingly changed strategies and started to run the ball over and over, and it worked every time. It worked so well that Penn State ran it into the endzone making the score 10-0, Penn State. Then the Irish got the ball back and made really good yardage but got stopped on the ten yard line and had to settle for a field goal making the score 10-3, Penn State.
Starting the third quarter the Irish get the ball and start chipping away yardage really well. They storm all the way to the one yard line and run the ball in to make the score 10-10, tied. The rest of the third quarter was just defense. No one else scored or was close. Overall a very defensive quarter ending with Notre Dame having the ball and the score still being 10-10.
A lot was on the line during the last quarter. This was the quarter that would decide who gets into the College Football Championship. Starting off hot, the Irish stormed down and got a pass interference, it’s first and goal in a tie game with immense pressure on the players. The Irish run the ball with RB Jeremiyah Love fights his way into the endzone to make the score 17-10, Irish on top. But the happiness was short lived because RB Nicholas Singleton freight trains his way through the Irish defense to make the score 17-17. Then Penn State defense just shuts down the Irish offense getting the ball back mid fourth quarter. All of that allowed Penn State to score another touchdown making the score 24-17 Penn State! Now the ball is in the Irish’s court and they deliver. With Jaden Greathouse breaking not one but two defenders’ ankles to score a 54 yard touchdown. This makes the score 24-24 late in the fourth quarter. Now it’s anybody’s game with a trip to the championship on the line.
Penn State gets the ball back with three minutes on the clock and needs to burn time and score. They get stopped and punt the ball back to the Irish and now it’s all in the hands of the Irish to win the game. But they also got stopped and had to punt the ball. Now Penn State is getting another chance to win with only under a minute left. The Penn State offense had their eyes down field and were about to make a big pass before it was intercepted! Now the Irish have a great opportunity to take the lead. They storm down the field and burn time by getting inside field goal range to make it a chip shot. They go for the field goal and make it! Making the score 27-24 Notre Dame on top with only four seconds left. Penn State gets the ball back but were stopped which means Notre Dame is heading to the College football Championship!
