The Notre Dame Fighting Irish advanced to the College Football Playoff championship game on Thursday night with a 27-24 win over Penn State in the Orange Bowl.
They will now face the winner of Friday’s Cotton Bowl game between Ohio State and Texas.
Mitch Jeter’s field goal with less than 10 seconds to play was the winning play, but it was far from the only big moment in the game.
Here are some takeaways from Notre Dame’s win.
Kneejerk reaction: Penn State simply did not have the big-time players in the passing game
There are a lot of layers to Notre Dame’s win, but one of the biggest was not necessarily about what they did or what they had.
It was about what Penn State did not have, and that was impact players in the passing game.
Yes, it had tight end Tyler Warren, who probably should have been a Heisman Trophy finalist this season. And Warren played another outstanding game on Thursday. But here are the two numbers you need to really focus on from Thursday.
Zero catches.
Zero yards.
That is what Penn State’s wide receivers did on Thursday. All of them. Combined.
They caught zero passes. It does not matter how good your running game is, how good your tight ends are, what your quarterback does or what your defense does, it is going to be nearly impossible to win a national title getting, quite literally, nothing from your wide receivers in the biggest game of the season.
Quarterback Drew Allar also had a miserable game, struggling with his accuracy and throwing an interception at the worst possible time. He also had two interceptions in the end zone negated by Notre Dame penalties, and missed a wide open touchdown early in the game resulting in Penn State having to settle for a field goal.
Penn State coach James Franklin will take a lot of heat for losing another big game to a top-five team. But this one is not on him. He coached a strong game. Emphasized the running game. Did not make any glaringly bad decisions. Sometimes a coach just needs the players to make some plays. His passing game did not make enough.
Game MVP: Christian Gray, cornerback, Notre Dame
You could go with wide receiver Jaden Greathouse for his game-tying touchdown in the fourth quarter, or perhaps kicker Mitch Jeter for making all five of his kicks (three extra points and two field goals), including the game-winning kick in the closing seconds.
But none of that matters without Gray making the defensive play of the year for the Irish.
