The Fighting Irish continue to demonstrate their resilience and determination.
This resilience and determination carry forward into the next round of the first College Football Playoff featuring the top twelve teams.
In the Orange Bowl, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish achieved an exciting 27-24 victory against the Penn State Nittany Lions.
“History is written by conquers we are holding the pen, we decide how we want to write our history,” Fighting Irish quarterback Riley Leonard shared what their head coach Marcus Freeman said to the team at halftime.
With a record of 14-1 and seeded seventh in this college playoff, Notre Dame has the opportunity to secure their 12th national championship title, their first since 1988. They are scheduled to compete on January 20 in Atlanta against the Texas versus Ohio State semifinal winner on Friday night in the Cotton Bowl.
“It is just an example, you just have to win this play,” Freeman said. “We knew this was going to be a heavy-weight fight. That is a really good team that we just faced that was not going to quit. But I told our guys we have been here. We have been in this position before. And they believe and they got the job done.”
Notre Dame Fighting Irish holds off Georgia Bulldogs to clinch spot in Orange Bowl CFP semifinal
In the championship game, Irish coach Marcus Freeman aims to become the first Black coach to secure the title at college football’s premier level. Freeman, whose mother is South Korean, is the first coach of Asian descent to reach this milestone.
“You find out a lot about your team at it’s lowest moments,” Freeman added. “This is a group they continue to stay together, they trust each other, they leaned on each other, they got better.”
Christian Gray intercepted Drew Allar’s risky pass across the middle at the Penn State 42-yard line with 33 seconds remaining in the game, which initiated a 19-yard drive culminating in Mitch Jeter’s decisive 41-yard field goal.
“Just catch the ball. Just catch the ball,” Gray said about his interception. “That was going through my mind and I knew I was going to make a play.”
Allar explained that he observed his first two options adequately defended during the play and considered throwing the ball away. However, due to the pressure he was under and the angle of his throw, the pass lacked sufficient speed to reach either receiver Omari Evans or the ground before Gray intervened.
Penn State coach James Franklin’s record against teams ranked in the AP Top 10 now stands at 4-20. The sixth-seeded Nittany Lions concluded their season with a commendable record of 13-3.
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard recorded a total of 223 passing yards, highlighted by a critical 10-yard completion to Jaden Greathouse that converted a third-and-3 during the final drive. In addition to his passing performance, Leonard also gained 35 yards on the ground and contributed one touchdown through the air and another on the run.
Penn State will launch its 2025 season with a home game against Nevada on August 30.
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