The Notre Dame Preventing Irish superior to the Faculty Soccer Playoff championship sport on Thursday night time with a 27-24 win over Penn State within the Orange Bowl.
They may now face the winner of Friday’s Cotton Bowl sport between Ohio State and Texas.
Mitch Jeter’s discipline purpose with less than 10 seconds to play was the winning play, nevertheless it was removed from the one massive second within the sport.
Listed here are some takeaways from Notre Dame’s win.
Kneejerk response: Penn State merely didn’t have the big-time gamers within the passing sport
There are a number of layers to Notre Dame’s win, however one of many greatest was not essentially about what they did or what that they had.
It was about what Penn State didn’t have, and that was affect gamers within the passing sport.
Sure, it had tight finish Tyler Warren, who in all probability ought to have been a Heisman Trophy finalist this season. And Warren performed one other excellent sport on Thursday. However listed below are the 2 numbers you have to actually concentrate on from Thursday.
Zero catches.
Zero yards.
That’s what Penn State’s large receivers did on Thursday. All of them. Mixed.
They caught zero passes. It doesn’t matter how good your operating sport is, how good your tight ends are, what your quarterback does or what your protection does, it’s going to be practically not possible to win a nationwide title getting, fairly actually, nothing out of your large receivers within the greatest sport of the season.
Quarterback Drew Allar additionally had a depressing sport, struggling along with his accuracy and throwing an interception on the worst attainable time. He additionally had two interceptions ultimately zone negated by Notre Dame penalties, and missed a large open landing early within the sport leading to Penn State having to accept a discipline purpose.
Penn State coach James Franklin will take a number of warmth for shedding one other massive sport to a top-five group. However this one shouldn’t be on him. He coached a powerful sport. Emphasised the operating sport. Didn’t make any obviously unhealthy choices. Typically a coach simply wants the gamers to make some performs. His passing sport didn’t make sufficient.
Recreation MVP: Christian Grey, cornerback, Notre Dame
You may go together with large receiver Jaden Greathouse for his game-tying landing within the fourth quarter, or maybe kicker Mitch Jeter for making all 5 of his kicks (three additional factors and two discipline objectives), together with the game-winning kick within the closing seconds.
However none of that issues with out Grey making the defensive play of the 12 months for the Irish.
