Notre Dame vs. Penn State – Orange Bowl Photo Recap

Jeremiyah Love and his father, Jason, share a moment before the game.

With the Irish trailing 10-0 in the closing minutes of the first half and starting quarterback Riley Leonard temporarily sidelined, Steve Angeli entered the game and led the Irish on their first scoring drive. Finishing six-for-seven on the series for 44 yards, Angeli helped the Irish get in position for a Mitch Jeter 41-yard field goal as time expired before the break.

The Irish offense found its stride in the second half, bolstered by three consecutive runs by Jeremiyah Love. Love rushed for six yards, then two more nine yard runs early on the first drive of the second half to set the tone for what would be a hard-fought back-and-forth final 30 minutes.

The Love runs set up Aneyas Williams for a wheel route down the right sideline. Riley Leonard dropped in a perfect pass, Williams made an over-the-shoulder catch for 36 yards. On the very next play, Williams would run for 15 yards to give the Irish a first down inside the PSU five-yard line.

Two plays later, Riley Leonard powered in from the three-yard line to tie the game at 10-10. The touchdown run was the 43rd of the season for Notre Dame, setting a new program-record (surpassing the 42 rushing touchdowns in 1989). Leonard already has the single-season quarterback rushing touchdown record with 16 this season. Those 16 rushing touchdowns place him fifth on the career list for quarterbacks at Notre Dame as well, putting him ahead of legendary signal callers Terry Hanratty, Joe Theismann (both had 16), Paul Hornung (15) and Joe Montana (14).

The teams traded possessions, then the Irish got the ball back again with a big quarterback sack by Rod Heard II, who was helped by the initial pressure of Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa.

Notre Dame’s next drive looked to be derailed when Leonard was sacked for a two-yard loss on first down. Jaden Greathouse made his first spectacular play of the game on third down, however, hauling in this back shoulder throw from Leonard for 17 yards on third-and-nine.

Eli Raridon broke open in the end zone which prompted a pass interference call against Penn State. The ball moved to the two-yard line to set up one of the most spectacular short-yardage touchdown runs of the college football season and in Irish football lore. Jeremiyah Love broke five tackles and powered his way into the end zone to put the Irish up 17-10 with 14:07 remaining.

The battle continued as Penn State answered the score to tie the game at 17-17, then took a seven-point lead after an interception and short field touchdown drive. The drive looked to be thwarted at one point on a Jack Kiser interception that was called back due to pass interference.

It was time for Jaden Greathouse to make another big play. Shaking loose of his defender at the line of scrimmage, he broke open, Riley Leonard found him in stride and Greathouse then juked the final PSU defender for a scintillating 54-yard touchdown reception and the game was tied yet again, this time at 24-24 with 4:38 remaining.

The teams would both have two more possessions in the final 4:38 and each would have opportunities to win the game, but it was Notre Dame made the signature play of the contest with under a minute remaining. Penn State quarterback Drew Allar was pressured by Jaylen Sneed, threw late over the middle and Christian Gray made a diving interception at the PSU 42-yard line. The amazing catch would set up the game-winning drive.

That game-winning drive was capped by Mitch Jeter’s 41-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining to put the Irish ahead 27-24.

The Irish defense had one more stop to earn and with Kris Mitchell and Riley Leonard looking on, pressured Allar into throwing a lateral out-of-bounds on the game’s final play to secure the legendary 27-24 victory. The celebration on the field and in the locker room followed.