Pluck, luck and ghosts (maybe): Notre Dame’s complicated path to stunning Ohio State in the national championship game

ATLANTA — The longest pass of Notre Dame’s season is a bit of an irony. The Irish don’t really do that He does He plays long passes.

Notre Dame ranks 102nd nationally in passing offense, worst of the 12 this season. College football Playoff teams. The 194 yards per game is also the worst for Notre Dame since Malik Zaire was throwing the rock on the 2017 Fighting Irish team.

But the passing game, the playoff game, and the season — perhaps a national championship season — may have turned into an explosive game in the Orange Bowl semifinal against Penn State.

Irish receiver Jaden Greathouse lined up against cornerback Cam Miller. In this shot, Miller goes down as if he was being electrocuted.

“I certainly take credit for his downfall for that,” Greathouse said happily.

That left the sophomore receiver wide open down the right sideline with his team trailing 24-17 with 4 1/2 minutes left in the game. Quarterback Riley Leonard may have never had an easier throw, hitting Greathouse in stride for a 54-yard score all season.

To get into the end zone, Greathouse threw a fake header to Penn State safety Jalen Reed. Reid fell as well, his ankles and his hopes shattered.

Seconds later, the game was tied, with Notre Dame winning by three points. This tale of Irish football continues.

All of that needs to be addressed in the proper context before Monday’s College Football Playoff National Championship without diving into a vat of clichés about culprits, echoes, and Rowdies.

“I don’t believe in ghosts,” Irish coach Marcus Freeman said at media day on Saturday. “I believe in God.”

Permanent reality? Well, it’s complicated and inspiring.

The underdog Irish have a chance against Ohio State, although you probably haven’t heard much of that kind of talk this week. They have a chance despite being almost underdogs. They have a chance, but the path is complicated because the causes cannot be easily identified.

These Irish were beaten so hard at times that a stretcher accompanied the game plan. Two offensive linemen were lost to Purdue in the third game of the season. (One of them returned four weeks later.) Two different linebackers went down against Penn State. One of the replacements, Tosh Baker, has four career starts in five seasons.

Starting cornerback Leonard Moore was forced to play after Ireland’s best defensive back, Benjamin Morrison, suffered a hip injury in Week 7. This week, Moore was named Defensive Rookie of the Year by the Football Writers Association of America.

Christian Gray was part of a defense that gave up 557 yards at USC. Maybe he was just a human being who needed football advice after getting caught like that. Then he intercepted a pass and ran back 99 yards. All-American Xavier Watts had a 100-yard rushing return shortly after as well.

Notre Dame won 14, snapping a 12-week rebound from a loss to Northern Illinois.

Who cares about 557 yards?

You may also remember Gray sacking Penn State with that late interception. The sophomore from St. Louis was among Marcus Freeman’s first commits.

“the first [recruiting] “To be completely honest with you, I thought the place was kind of boring,” Gray said. “I didn’t know where he was. I didn’t even know he was in Indiana.”

It started to change every time I continued to visit. “I just felt, ‘OK, this place is different.’

So different, at times, you don’t recognize the Irish this season. Notre Dame’s top defensive lineman, Howard Cross III, missed three games. His last solo intervention was more than two months ago. Defensive tackle Riley Mills exited for the season in a first-round game against Indiana.

Since running back Jeremiyah Love dished out the longest run in CFP history — 98 yards for a score against the Hoosiers — the running game has averaged just 3.27 per carry.

Penn State’s comeback began with a field goal late in the first half, led by backup quarterback Steve Angeli.

This is the team a heartless biker gang could love. Leonard did not make any “official or unofficial” visits – as he put it – in the recruiting process. He got to Duke because his personal pitching coach, David Morris, played for Blue Devils coach David Cutcliffe at Ole Miss.

“It’s crazy to think where I am today,” Leonard said.

Is this good or bad enough for you?

The temptation is to invoke the wink-and-nod effect of A A certain 134-foot-tall mosaic deity overlooks the entire project.

The Irish assert that it is something else, something more fortunate than luck.

“We really shouldn’t be messed with,” Greathouse added. “We have playmakers. Whether everyone sees it or not, it doesn’t matter to us.”

A school-record 14 wins brought some level of magic to this playoff run. Notre Dame couldn’t afford to lose after being upset by Northern Illinois, so it didn’t lose. The 13-game winning streak currently leads the nation.

A program that couldn’t match him athletically in the biggest games suddenly dictated to him.

“If you make it to the tournament, it will be a completely different experience,” said former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, who has reasons to support both teams. “Get rid of all your pot prep tools because this is a different beast.”

In three similar BCS/CFP games, the Irish have been outscored by a combined 72 points. In the 2013 BCS Championship Game, Alabama was charitable with a 42-14 win. In the 2019 CFP semifinals, Notre Dame was shut out by Clemson 30-3. Two years later, Alabama took home honors again with a 31-14 blowout.

Notre Dame plays the same way those teams played, dominated by defense with physical play on both lines and — sorry, Jayden — a lack of big-time playmakers.

But there is that path carved with intangibles to victory for the Irish. Ask Tressel. He coached Ohio State for nine years before resigning in 2011. Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman played for Tressel from 2004-08.

Mostly, this Notre Dame looks like Tressel’s 2002 Ohio State team that won half of its 14 games by a touchdown or less.

These “Luckeyes” were also expensive underdogs. They were similarly outscored in the championship game by a Miami team loaded with NFL Talents. But Tressel devised a game plan that dragged the Hurricanes into the mud and made them value every possession.

This has been Miami’s team all along. maybe the Miami team all the time. Of Miami’s 13 possessions in regulation, four ended in a penalty and three ended in a fumble. Three more ended in a missed field goal.

The biggest play of the game – perhaps the biggest play in Ohio State history Before last Friday — He was Maurice Clarett picks up to intercept Sean Taylor.

“We’ve faced that many times,” Tressel told CBS Sports. “It didn’t scare us because we were in the opposite moment. The more battle tested you get, the more it helps. That’s why when you lift weights, you tear muscles, they grow bigger. When your team trains, they get bigger.”

Twenty-two years later, it is still difficult to shed light on the Irish. They are gumbo of different ingredients.

• This top-10 defense has given up more than 25 points in just three games since the start of 2023.
• Opponent passing efficiency and completion percentage lead the country.
• Notre Dame is one of only four teams that has run in man coverage more than half the time this season. As can be seen above, it worked.
• The Irish are the kings of the “middle eight”, the last 4 minutes of the first half and the first 4 minutes of the second half. They outscored opponents 27-0 in that span during the playoff. They finished second nationally during the season.
• The Irish lead the country in sales (32) and points sales (151).
• Kicker Mitch Jeter went from being responsible (6 of 12 in the regular season) to actually being able to get the team picture if Notre Dame wins it all. With his hip healed, the senior went 7 of 8 in the postseason, including the game-winning kick against Penn State.
• Talk about omens. Notre Dame’s 4-0 record against the Big Ten this season is the best against the conference by a single team since 1993. No team has won by five in a season against the Big Ten in the wire service era (since 1936).

Leonard suggested this week that this was some sort of “divine teaching.” But before applying that to Notre Dame’s religious underpinnings alone, he said both teams thrived on a metaphysical level.

“I truly believe these types of things happen for a reason,” Leonard said. “Not just us, but Ohio State as well. I think we’re the two main teams that publicly display our faith the most…I truly believe Jesus has been looking over our shoulders the entire season and put those two teams on top of the pedestal for a reason.”

This does not answer the question of why the other ten teams were not put on a pedestal, but that is a separate theological question for another time.

Teams playing for the national championship at home were booed. Maybe it’s a sign of the times NIL. Perhaps these are too high expectations for two blue-blooded people.

“We can’t perform to make sure everyone is cheering for us,” Freeman said earlier this season.

It may also have been a starting point. Freeman lost two of those championship games as an Ohio State player in 2006 and 2007.

No wonder Freeman made a point to remind his team of its worst moment on the 100th anniversary of the loss to Northern Illinois in mid-December.

“Understanding and remembering the pain we felt in that moment and not wanting to feel that again,” Gray said.

Ohio State has its own demons trying to pull off the ultimate comeback from Michigan’s loss — the difference is that the Buckeyes are expected to win big.

For Notre Dame, there is a path carved by pluck, luck and perhaps even ghosts.

We’ll find out Monday night. One of these teams is really not to be messed with.