Atlanta Ohio State can now celebrate another national championship rather than lamenting another defeat after fending off a Notre Dame comeback attempt Monday night to defeat the Fighting Irish 34-23 in a thrilling game.
On a late third-and-eleven, Will Howard hit big-play receiver Jeremiah Smith for 56 yards to end a game that had started out as a joke but quickly became something more.
Late in the fourth quarter, Notre Dame, trailing 31-7, made it a one-score game with two touchdowns and two 2-point conversions.
On the next drive, the Irish used their timeouts and stopped Ohio State on the first two plays. However, Howard dropped his greatest ball of the season into the hands of the second-team All-American on third down after finding Smith in single coverage on the right sideline.
After a seven-week ascent from the depths of a defeat to 20-point underdog Michigan to the pinnacle of college football, it set up a field goal that officially began the celebration. Ohio State will return to the Horseshoe in Columbus for its sixth natty and first since the 2014 campaign.
Even though Howard, a Kansas State transfer-portal star, passed for 231 yards and two touchdowns, nothing will compare to the toss to Smith when everything is on the line.
The receiver, who was largely silent for the majority of this game after being bottled up by Texas in the semifinals, eventually let loose for the type of play he has been producing all season. He finished with 88 yards from five catches.
Ohio State added a field goal on its fifth possession after scoring touchdowns on its first four.
This game appeared to be over when Quinshon Judkins (100 yards, 11 carries, three touchdowns), a transfer from Mississippi who demonstrated Ohio State’s prudent use of the ever-expanding portal, broke off a 70-yard run to set up the score that made it 28-7.
It wasn’t, and Irish coach Marcus Freeman will now have to respond to some difficult questions. One is about Mitch Jeter’s short field goal attempt when the team was down 16 and facing fourth-and-goal from the 9; the other is about the failed fake punt in the third quarter that ended up being a field goal for a 31-7 lead. If Jeter’s kick hadn’t clanged off the left upright, it could have appeared like a superior choice.
In actuality, however, Ohio State was superior. Notre Dame lost to the Buckeyes 445 yards to 308. Howard never really got stopped throughout his first 13 passes. The evidence: Ohio State only made one grand total punt.
— AP National Writer Eddie Pells
