If Notre Dame wants to win the College Football Playoff title game over Ohio State now, it better make its move quickly. Only 15 minutes remain, and the third quarter showed the Irish are no closer to slowing down the Buckeyes. They trail, 31-15.
Any hopes of the Irish seizing momentum after halftime were snuffed out on the second play of the quarter, which saw Quinshon Judkins run for 70 yards. Three plays later, Judkins had his fourth touchdown since the Irish had gotten a first down when he ran into the end zone from right next to the goal line.
On the Irish’s first possession of the second half, they promptly turned the ball over on downs after [autotag]Jordan Faison[/autotag] couldn’t handle a fourth-down pass from [autotag]Steve Angeli[/autotag]. That set the Buckeyes up in good field position, but to the Irish’s credit, they allowed only one first down this time. Still, the Buckeyes added onto their lead when Jayden Fielding kicked a 46-yard field goal.
The Irish finally broke their first-down drought when they took the ball back, albeit on a third-down pass interference call. But that proved to at least momentarily spark something within the Irish’s offense as it moved the ball better than it had since the opening drive.
This particular drive culminated with [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag]’s pass to [autotag]Jaden Greathouse[/autotag], who had enough space to score a 34-yard touchdown. Leonard then threw a short pass to [autotag]Jeremiyah Love[/autotag] for the two-point conversion. Just like that, the Irish had life again.
The momentum was snuffed out on the next possession though when [autotag]RJ Obe[/autotag]n was penalized for roughing the passer. The Buckeyes already were starting to drive, and this put them in Irish territory. That’s where we stand, and the Irish are in trouble.
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