Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MARCH 2025 15 In a game many believed would come down to which team could play their brand of football, Notre Dame did just that on its first possession. However, Ohio State quickly turned the tide. The Irish opened with an 18-play, 75- yard touchdown drive. They converted twice on fourth-and-1 plays, both on runs up the middle by senior quarter- back Riley Leonard. He also plunged it in from the 1-yard line. It was exactly the grimy, won-in-the-trenches style of play Notre Dame was hoping for, and it gave Leonard and company a 7-0 lead. The Irish gained 11 combined yards the next four times they had the ball. "We knew the only thing stopping us was ourselves," senior tight end Mitch- ell Evans said. "After you go out, what we did in the first drive — go dominate them — and then the next few, we just shoot ourselves in the foot. "You can't win a football game; you can't win a national championship like that." Defensively, Notre Dame did not stop Ohio State from scoring a touchdown until 7:52 remained in the third quarter, and that drive still resulted in a field goal. Howard saved the best game of his college career for last, completing 14 of 15 passes for 144 yards with 2 touch- downs in the first half alone. The Buck- eyes' backfield shined, with Judkins carrying 11 times for 100 yards — 70 of which came on one play — and 2 scores. With those two leading the charge and Ohio State's suffocating defense keeping the Irish on the mat, the Buck- eyes built a 31-7 lead. "Just bad. Unforced error," defensive coordinator Al Golden said about Jud- kins' explosive run. "We really felt com- ing out of the half, we had a good plan, and we did. That run notwithstanding, we really did. We gave him an easy one there and obviously put the offense be- hind the eight ball." Suddenly, though, the offense came back from the dead. It did so primar- ily by peppering Jaden Greathouse. The sophomore wide receiver caught 6 passes for 128 yards, including touch- downs of 34 and 30 yards, all in the sec- ond half. Leonard's numbers in the second half were nearly as strong as Howard's in the first, with 209 yards on 22 attempts. After Leonard's second touchdown to Greathouse, the Irish pulled yet another rabbit out of their hat. Notre Dame called a reverse pass from sophomore wide receiver Jordan Faison to grad stu- dent wideout Beaux Collins, and they executed their second two-point play perfectly to pull within one score. "We've got nothing else to lose," Leonard said. "It's the last game, no matter what. Might as well go out there and sling the rock and trust your guys." Howard, though, hit a deep shot of his own to superstar freshman wideout Jer- emiah Smith on third-and-11 with just more than two minutes to play. Smith beat sophomore Notre Dame corner- back Christian Gray in one-on-one coverage, closing the curtains on the 2024-25 season. "It's really challenging, but I'm just really, really proud of my teammates, really proud of this university," senior center Pat Coogan said. "Certainly one of the most resilient teams I've ever seen, regardless of college, NFL, sport. "I'm really proud to be a part of it. Something that I'll hold near and dear in my heart forever." The Irish finished their season 14-2. In his third year in South Bend, Freeman engineered a College Football Playoff run that included Notre Dame's first two major bowl wins since January 1994. Every time Irish fans were out, even down 31-7 in the title game, their team kept pulling them back in. But on Jan. 20 in Atlanta, the magical campaign finished just short of im- mortality. FIRST QUARTER NOTRE DAME 7, OHIO STATE 0 Top moment: Notre Dame senior quarterback Riley Leonard walked into the end zone from 1 yard out to cap an 18-play drive that took 9:45 off the clock and punctuated the Fighting Irish's presence in the national cham- pionship game. Feature performer: Leonard ran 9 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Ohio State 0 21 10 3 34 Notre Dame 7 0 8 8 23 OSU ND FIRST QUARTER ND Leonard 1-yard run (Jeter kick) 5:15 0 7 Drive: 18 plays, 75 yards, 9:45 SECOND QUARTER OSU Smith 8-yard pass from Howard (Fielding kick) 14:10 7 7 Drive: 11 plays, 75 yards, 6:05 OSU Judkins 9-yard run (Fielding kick) 6:15 14 7 Drive: 10 plays, 76 yards, 6:06 OSU Judkins 6-yard pass from Howard (Fielding kick) 0:27 21 7 Drive: 12 plays, 80 yards, 4:26 THIRD QUARTER OSU Judkins 1-yard run (Fielding kick) 12:46 28 7 Drive: 5 plays, 75 yards, 2:14 OSU Fielding 46-yard field goal 7:52 31 7 Drive: 6 plays, 5 yards, 3:26 ND Greathouse 34-yard pass from Leonard (Leonard to Love pass good) 3:03 31 15 Drive: 10 plays, 75 yards, 4:49 FOURTH QUARTER ND Greathouse 30-yard pass from Leonard (Faison to Collins pass good) 4:15 31 23 Drive: 6 plays, 80 yards, 2:10 OSU Fielding 33-yard field goal 0:26 34 23 Drive: 9 plays, 61 yards, 3:44 OSU ND Total First Downs 22 19 Rushing 11 5 Passing 10 11 Penalty 1 3 Rushing Attempts 41 26 Yards Gained Rushing 226 72 Yards Lost Rushing 12 19 Net Yards Rushing 214 53 Net Yards Passing 231 255 Passes Attempted 21 32 Passes Completed 17 22 Had Intercepted 0 0 Percent Completion 81.0% 68.8% Yards Per Attempt 11.0 8.0 Yards Per Completion 13.6 11.6 Total Offensive Plays, 62 58 Total Net Yards 445 308 Average Gain Per Play 7.2 5.3 Fumbles: No.-Lost 1-1 1-0 Penalties: No.-Yards 6-58 3-30 Punts: No.-Yards 1-51 2-97 Average Per Punt 51.0 48.5 Average Net Punt 41.0 50.0 Punt Returns: No.-Yards 1-3 1-10 Kickoff Returns: No.-Yards 1-6 0-0 Interception Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 0-0 Fumble Returns: No.-Yards 0-0 0-0 Miscellaneous Yards 0 0 Possession Time 32:25 27:35 Third-Down Conversions 9-12 5-12 Percentage 75.0% 41.7% Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 3-4 Percentage 0.0% 75.0% Sacks By: No.-Yards 2-13 2-4 OHIO STATE 34, NOTRE DAME 23 Jan. 20, 2025 ✦ Attendance: 77,660 Mercedes-Benz Stadium ✦ Atlanta