MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Penn State quarterback Drew Allar said he was trying to throw into the ground.
Notre Dame defensive back Christian Gray dove for the football anyway and, luck of the (Fighting) Irish, it ended up right in his hands at the right time.
A few seconds later, Gray and his teammates found themselves celebrating a spot in the national title game after a thrill-a-minute 27-24 victory over Penn State on Thursday in the Orange Bowl, the first of two College Football Playoff semifinals in two nights.
Gray’s snag of Allar’s ill-advised pass — across the middle at the Nittany Lions’ 42-yard with 33 seconds left — set up a 19-yard drive that ended with Mitch Jeter’s go-ahead 41-yard field goal. Penn State’s final possession netted an incompletion by Allar and a series of laterals that ended with the quarterback zipping the ball out of bounds at Hard Rock Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.
The Fighting Irish (14-1), seeded seventh in this first 12-team edition of the College Football Playoff, will have a chance to bring their 12th national title and first since the 1988 season back under the Golden Dome when they play in the CFP final on Jan. 20 at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Their opponent will be the winner of Friday night’s Cotton Bowl semifinal between fifth-seeded Texas (13-2) and eighth-seeded Ohio State (12-2) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
“Just catch the ball. Just catch the ball,” Gray said about his interception. “That was going through my mind, and I knew I was going to make a play.”
Penn State’s season ends with 13 wins and a trio of one-possession losses, surely none more frustrating or disappointing than this one.
Allar explained he saw his first two options covered on the game-turning play, then wanted to throw the ball into the dirt. But the throw, under pressure and across his body, didn’t have enough zip on it to reach either receiver Omari Evans or the ground before Gray slid in.
“Honestly, I was trying to throw it at his feet,” said the junior quarterback, considered by some to be a first-round pick if he makes himself available for this year’s NFL draft. “I should’ve thrown it away when I saw the first two progressions were not open. I didn’t execute.”
It was the most memorable play of a game that was the best of what’s been a sleepy few weeks of the first expanded edition of the College Football Playoff, which after a decade as a four-team invitational now has two rounds before the semifinals arrive. The Orange Bowl featured three ties, three lead changes and 31 points in the fourth quarter alone.
In the title game, which will be played on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the late civil rights leader’s hometown, Irish coach Marcus Freeman will try to become the first Black coach to win a national championship at college football’s highest level. Freeman, whose mother is South Korean, also is the first coach of Asian heritage to get this far.
“We found a way to make a play when it mattered the most,” Freeman said. “In my opinion, great teams, great programs, find a way to do that.”
Penn State coach James Franklin fell to 4-20 with the Nittany Lions against teams ranked in the top 10 of the AP poll.
“Everyone wants to look at a specific play,” Franklin said. “But there’s probably eight to 12 plays in that game that could have made a difference. I’m not going to call out specific plays or specific players. There are a ton of plays where we could have done better.”
AP photo by Rebecca Blackwell / Notre Dame’s Mitch Jeter kicks the winning field goal against Penn State on Thursday night at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard shook off a hit late in the second quarter that sent him to the medical tent to be checked for a concussion. He came back and led the Irish on four scoring drives in the second half, including the last one.
“He’s a competitor, and competitors find a way to win, and that’s what Riley does,” Freeman said. “That’s what this team does.”
When Leonard went out, backup Steve Angeli came in and injected life into the offense on the way to its first score. Angeli went 6-of-7 for 44 yards and moved Notre Dame to field-goal range to trim its deficit to 10-3 just before halftime.
“We have a lot of confidence in Steve,” Freeman said when asked why he allowed the Irish to play aggressively when the new quarterback entered.
Leonard passed for 223 yards, including a key 10-yard dart to Jaden Greathouse to convert on third-and-3 during the drive for the winning kick. Leonard also rushed 35 yards and a score, and he also passed for a touchdown.
With 4:38 left in the game, he hit Greathouse for a 54-yard touchdown pass to tie it at 24 after a defender slipped.
The kickoff temperature was 56 degrees, unseasonably cool for South Florida and making it the second-coldest Orange Bowl ever, next to the Georgia Tech-Iowa game in 2010 that started at 49 degrees and felt like the upper 30s.
Perhaps accordingly, the game started slow, but Riley’s injury injected life into things, and he came back to lead Notre Dame on touchdown drives of 75 and 72 yards in the third quarter for a 17-10 lead.
At that point, the fun was just getting started.
Penn State had its chances, and Allar, along with all those Nittany Lions fans, will spend the offseason reliving that last throw — or trying to forget it. The Nittany Lions forced a Notre Dame punt and looked assured of at least going to overtime when they took over at their 15 with 47 seconds left.
After a gain of 13, Allar dropped to pass and had pressure coming. He threw across his body to the middle of the field, where Gray dove for the pick.
A review showed it was a catch, and the Irish were onto the next step on a road that looked all but impossible when they fell 16-14 to Mid-American Conference program Northern Illinois in the second week of the season, a stunning home loss in South Bend, Indiana.
Nick Singleton ran for 84 yards and all three Penn State touchdowns Thursday. Off target for much of the day, Allar finished 12-of-23 passing for 135 yards with the interception.
“He’s hurting right now. He should be. We’re all hurting,” Franklin said.
The quarterback didn’t duck questions about the play or his role in the loss.
“We didn’t win the game, so it wasn’t good enough, it’s plain and simple,” Allar said. “I’ll try to learn from it, do everything in my power to get better and just grow from it.”