A spirited comeback that began in the middle of the third quarter fell short as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish dropped a 34-23 decision to the Ohio State Buckeyes in Monday night’s College Football Playoff championship game. The loss crushed the hopes of an Irish 12th national title and ended their longest season with a 14-2 record.
Notre Dame trailed 31-7 midway through the third period and showed no signs of mounting the comeback that soon began. Both sides of the ball were struggling and the Irish were in a position of trying to find a way to deliver a jolt to those units. That effort came fairly close to materializing.
Below are some of the key aspects of the game:
Digging Out
The comeback began not long after a disastrous gamble nearly pounded the final nail in the Notre Dame coffin. In a punting situation from their own 33 and trailing 28-7, the Irish tried a fake punt that resulted in an incomplete pass. Ohio State picked up one first down before a holding call stalled the drive and forced them to settle for a field goal.
After four consecutive drives that gained next to nothing, the Notre Dame offense finally came to life. Taking advantage of a pass interference call on third-and-19, the Irish then converted another third down before Riley Leonard found Jaden Greathouse for a 34-yard score, followed by a two-point conversion. On the touchdown, Greathouse broke a pair of tackles and made some quick moves to find the end zone.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Notre Dame forced a fumble and managed to get into the Buckeye red zone before stalling out. However, Mitch Jeter’s field goal attempt hit the left upright, keeping the score at 31-15.
After finally forcing Ohio State to punt, Leonard forged a six-play drive that ended with another scoring toss to Greathouse with 4:15 left, followed by another successful two-point conversion. Greathouse finished with six catches for 128 yards and the two scores.
With 2:45 left, Notre Dame then appeared to be in position to get the ball back for a potential tying score. Unfortunately, on third-and-11, Ohio State quarterback Will Howard found wideout Jeremiah Smith for a 57-yard pass play. That led to the clinching field goal with 26 seconds left.
False Start
Despite its underdog status, Notre Dame began the game with a remarkable 18-play drive that ate up nearly 10 minutes of clock and spanned 75 yards, The end result was a Leonard one-yard scoring run to give the Irish an early 7-0 advantage. Leonard was the key facet of that opening drive, carrying the ball nine times for 34 yards, a toll that left him exhausted when he reached the sidelines.
That effort would essentially make up the Notre Dame offense for the remainder of the half, with that group gaining just 18 yards on three second-quarter drives. Each of those drives was a three-and-out, with one short-circuited by back-to-back penalties that put the Irish in a huge hole. The longest gain of that trio of drives was a seven-yard pass from Leonard to Beaux Collins to end the first half.
No Early Answer
The promise of that opening drive faded because of the Notre Dame defense’s struggles in trying to find to answer to stopping the Ohio State offense. On each of the three Buckeye drives during the first half, they marched down the field, collecting 231 yards of offense and 15 first downs.
Most of that damage came through the air, with the Irish unable to get any sustained pressure of Ohio State quarterback Will Howard. Missing on only one of his 15 first-half passing attempts, Howard often had plenty of time to throw and when pressured, had open space to run.
Howard finished the first half with 144 yards passing with two touchdowns and 231 yards for the game. Especially damaging for the Notre Dame defense was the ease with which the Buckeyes were able to move the chains. Ohio State faced six third-down situations and managed to convert each time. After the break, the Irish defense had some success in that department, stopping the Buckeyes on half their six third-down attempts.
Next Up
The thrilling moments of a near-magical 14-2 season will have faded by the time Marcus Freeman and his staff hold spring practice for the Irish. Departures through the NFL draft, graduation and the transfer portal will likely be countered by new arrivals, with the excitement engineered during the 2024 campaign getting the attention of future recruits. The next time that Notre Dame takes the field for an actual game will be at the end of August or perhaps on Sept. 1. That uncertainty is because the Irish will travel to Miami to face its old rival, the Miami Hurricanes, in a game that’s expected to offer a stiff challenge right off the bat.
