MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Notre Dame took advantage of a crucial Penn State turnover with under a minute left and made the game-winning field goal with seven seconds remaining to pull out a 27-24 win in the Orange Bowl and earn a spot in the College Football Playoff championship game.
Penn State quarterback Drew Allar was intercepted in Penn State territory with 33 seconds to play, leading to a 41-yard field goal by Notre Dame kicker Mitch Jeter. The Fighting Irish will meet the Cotton Bowl winner between Texas and Ohio State on Monday, Jan. 20, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Down 10-0 with two minutes left in the second quarter and 24-17 with just under eight minutes to play, Notre Dame answered with a surprisingly explosive passing game, including a game-changing touchdown pass of 54 yards to wide receiver Jaden Greathouse to even the game at 24-24 with 4:38 remaining.
A game of runs — Penn State scored the first 10 points and Notre Dame the next 17 points — came down to which quarterback made the critical mistake. That was Allar, who had turned his game around in the fourth quarter but made a costly decision on a rollout on the Nittany Lions’ penultimate possession.
The Nittany Lions were held to 63 rushing yards in the second half after going for 141 yards in the first half, which more than the Irish had allowed combined in playoff wins against Indiana and Georgia.
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard went 15 of 23 for 223 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, with another 35 yards on the ground. The senior briefly left the game after being driven to the ground by two Penn State defenders on Notre Dame’s final possession of the first half. He was replaced by backup Steve Angeli but returned to the start the third quarter.
Robbed off his normal explosiveness due to a knee injury, running back Jeremiyah Love still managed a team-high 45 yards. Aneyas Williams had 83 yards of total offense. Greathouse led all players with 105 receiving yards.
Penn State’s Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen combined for 166 yards on 34 carries, with Singleton accounting for all three of the team’s touchdowns.
All-America tight end Ty Warren had 75 receiving yards and 21 yards on the ground for the Nittany Lions. Allar started slowly and finished with 135 passing yards and the one costly turnover.
After the first scoreless first quarter in the Orange Bowl since Louisville and Wake Forest in 2007, the Nittany Lions got on the board with a short field goal to open the second quarter. Later, Penn State went 90 yards in 15 plays across more than seven minutes, capped by a Singleton touchdown run, to take a 10-0 lead with 2:18 remaining in the quarter.
Angeli took over for Leonard near midfield and drove the Irish in range for a 41-yard field goal by kicker Mitch Jeter as time expired to make it 10-3 at the break.
With Leonard back under center, Notre Dame’s offense responded with a 75-yard touchdown drive to open the second half keyed by a 36-yard completion to Williams. The Irish had three completions of 30 or more yards after having just nine on the season heading into Thursday night.
Notre Dame went ahead 17-10 on a Love touchdown run from two yards out less than a minute into the fourth quarter. Hit behind the line of scrimmage, Love wriggled away from multiple tacklers and dragged another Penn State defender into the end zone.
Penn State tied the score on the ensuing possession, retaking momentum with a 75-yard drive lasting 3:45 and ending with a 7-yard touchdown by Singleton. Allar completed all three of his attempts and 57 yards of total offense on the scoring drive.
Leonard’s interception on the first play of the next drive put Penn State in position to retake the lead on another Singleton score with 7:55 to play. The drive included a key pass-interference penalty on Notre Dame that negated an Allar interception.
Again, Notre Dame had the answer. Greathouse broken open on the right sideline when Penn State defensive back slipped in coverage. Greathouse made one potential tackler miss on his way to the end zone.
After tackling Allar short of a first down on a third-down scramble, Notre Dame took over at its 24-yard line with 2:34 to play. Boosted by a 15-yard hands-to-the-face penalty against Nittany Lions defensive lineman Zane Durant, the Irish were able to inch toward makeable field-goal range but were stopped on a Penn State sack with under a minute to go.
The Nittany Lions regained possession at the 15-yard line with 47 seconds to play. But Allar made the game’s biggest mistake: On second down on the 28-yard line, Allar rolled to his left, threw across his body and was intercepted by Christian Gray at the 42-yard line with 33 seconds left.
Leonard found Greathouse again to convert on third down and push the Irish down to the 25-yard line. Leonard then kneeled twice to get the Irish into the middle of the field and set up Jeter’s game-winning field goal.