The University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish are one win away from a national championship. On Thursday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, the Fighting Irish defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions 27-24. With the win, Notre Dame will await the winner of Ohio State and Texas on Friday night. The Buckeyes are playing the Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl from Dallas, Texas. The College Football Playoff National Championship game will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia on January 20.
Inside Look at the Fighting Irish win
Things did not look good early for Notre Dame. Penn State in fact scored the first 10 points before Notre Dame got on the scoreboard. The first score for the Fighting Irish was a 41 yard field goal by Mitch Jeter of Salisbury, North Carolina on the final play of the first half.
Then in the third quarter, the Fighting Irish scored the only points. Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina tied the game at 10.
The fourth quarter saw Notre Dame take a 17-10 lead on a two yard touchdown run by running back Jeremiyah Love of St. Louis, Missouri. However, the lead would not last long as Nicholas Singleton of Shillington, Pennsylvania had two seven yard touchdown runs that put the Nittany Lions up by a major score of 24-17. The Fighting Irish then closed out the scoring with 10 straight points of their own. Fighting Irish wide receiver Jaden Greathouse of Austin, Texas caught a 54 yard touchdown pass from Leonard with four minutes and 38 seconds left in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 24, and then Jeter kicked the game-winning 41 yard field goal with seven seconds left to win the game. Greathouse finished the game with seven catches for 105 receiving yards and one touchdown.
A major turning point in the game came in the final minute. Before Jeter’s game-winning field goal, the Fighting Irish got the football and put it in field goal position thanks to a key interception by cornerback Christian Gray of St. Louis.
