On Monday night, Notre Dame fans had a bad case of deja vu for a while. The Irish returned to the National Championship game, where the high-powered Ohio State Buckeyes were starting to run away with the game. The national pundits probably had their “Notre Dame doesn’t belong” columns half-written. Then something Notre Dame fans aren’t used to happening in these circumstances occurred. The Irish swung back and made a late push despite mounting injuries. In the process, the Irish earned the respect of the same pundits who would have gleefully written their obituary this morning.
Doom started to set in for Notre Dame fans midway through the third quarter. Ohio State was up 31-7, and after a nearly perfect first drive, the Irish offense couldn’t do anything right. The Buckeyes were carving up the Irish defense that was stout all year, just as Alabama did in the 2012 National Championship game.
It looked like the levy had finally broken. Notre Dame overcame a laundry list of injuries all season long, but the patchwork defensive line couldn’t get any pressure on Will Howard, and he diced up a secondary that at times looked lost. The fellow patchwork offensive line couldn’t open any running lanes, and after an 18-play masterpiece to open the game, the Irish couldn’t sustain any offense. Notre Dame was on the verge of being TCU’ed by Ohio State.
Instead of laying down and rolling over as we’ve seen the Irish do in similar situations in the past – albeit under previous coaching staffs – Notre Dame dug deep and kept fighting. Once down 24 points midway through the third quarter, Riley Leonard found Jaden Greathouse for a 34-yard touchdown and then Jeremiyah Love on a shovel pass for the two-point conversion. Then another touchdown from Leonard to Greathouse with an OSU fumbled, and Notre Dame missed field goal mixed in. Suddenly, what was headed toward a blowout that would have brought back the “Notre Dame doesn’t belong” narrative that was put to bed with the Sugar and Orange Bowl victories should have been dispelled.
Unfortunately for Notre Dame, that is where they ran out of magic. Ohio State converted their 3rd and 11 try after the ill-fated all-out blitz call from Al Golden, and the Buckeyes put the game out of reach with a chip shot field goal that made many bettors very happy. No Notre Dame fan wanted a moral victory last night. The championship drought has been too long for that, so no one wants to talk about moral victories today. However, no one wanted to suffer through an entire off-season hearing about how Notre Dame didn’t belong there in the first place.
Notre Dame’s resolve, however, caught the attention of folks who otherwise would likely have piled on. Even Chris Fowler threw some flowers Notre Dame’s way in his post-game comments about Notre Dame overcoming all that they did in 2024 in terms of injuries without ever giving up. CBS’s Josh Pate jumped on a Mike Golic Jr tweet to state how impressed he was with Notre Dame as well.
Every single Notre Dame fan wanted to be talking about ending the 36-year drought, hoisting the trophy, lighting up Grace Hall, and exorcising all of the demons that haven’t been exorcised already during this team. At the same time, though, this feels very different than 12 years ago when it was clear from the opening whistle that Notre Dame and Alabama were playing a different sport.
Every team deals with injuries throughout the season – especially when you’re playing 16 games. What Notre Dame experienced and was able to overcome was incredible and a testament to the culture Marcus Freeman built. By the end of the game, Notre Dame was missing two opening-day starters from the OL (Anthonie Knapp, Ashton Craig), three starters from the DL (Jordan Botelho, Rylie Mills, Boubacar Traore), and a first-round draft pick at corner (Benjamin Morrison). And their star running back they rode to get to the playoffs and starting right guard were both playing hurt. Charles Jagusah, who missed the entire year, just stepped right back into the starting LT spot in the game and was Notre Dame’s best lineman.
This wasn’t the first time the Irish faced a situation where many other teams without the culture inside the Notre Dame locker room would have folded. The Irish trailed 10-0 in the Orange Bowl and temporarily lost their starting quarterback. In the same game, they lost their starting LT (Knapp) before rallying twice to beat Penn State to even get to this game.
Last night, the Irish faced the most expensive roster in college football—a team with multiple first-rounders playing their final games and probably a dozen players who will be drafted in a few months. Notre Dame was at a clear talent disadvantage; no one could argue otherwise. They were hurt, and they were down big. It would have been easy to fold up shop and head home. They didn’t, though, and that is why they earned the respect of a lot of people last night.
It’s also why many people feel like the Irish will be right back in contention next year. Notre Dame doesn’t need years to keep rebuilding. They are that close. Despite the injuries, despite many miscues (I didn’t even get into the botched snaps, missed kicks, failed fakes, missed passes, etc), Notre Dame was down one possession with four minutes left and Ohio State facing a third and 11. Had anyone told Marcus Freeman ahead of the game that he’d be in that situation, he’d probably have taken it. He might not have loved the path to get there, but he’d probably have thought his team would have a good chance in that situation.
Despite facing the odds, Notre Dame didn’t get bulldozed like the 2012 team did. They also didn’t lay down when Ohio State went up big, as we saw in the 2018 Cotton Bowl when Clemson took advantage of Julian Love’s temporary absence to blitz the Irish secondary. There’s a laundry list of things we can (and will) talk about all off-season about how if Notre Dame did things differently, that they could have won. In 2012, the only thing Notre Dame could have done differently against Alabama would be hope that the Crimson Tide didn’t show up.
This game will hurt for a long time because so much has to go right just to be in the position Notre Dame was in in the first place, but unlike past times, the Irish have gotten this far, not a whole lot of folks are asking if Notre Dame can get back here. They’re asking when.
ND will be back! Let’s hang on to a great 3rd year coach.!