Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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22 MARCH 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED wasn't able to lead the Fighting Irish to a national championship game victory over Ohio State. But he's still a hero. Notre Dame needed someone, any- one, to do something against the Buck- eyes to at least give the Irish a glimmer of hope in a game that was teetering on the edge of becoming as bad as the last national title game the program played in a dozen years ago. Greathouse was the guy to make sure ghosts of championship games past did not hang over the Irish's heads inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. He got into the end zone via a masterful individual effort to slice into Ohio State's overwhelming 24-point lead by a third; Notre Dame successfully converted the ensuing two-point conversion. Then he got into the end zone again by way of a contested catch on an over-the- shoulder deep ball. Again, Notre Dame pulled off a two-point try. Bang, bang, it was a one-score game against all odds — major thanks to No. 1 in blue and gold. "We're just a team that battles," Greathouse said. "This whole year we've been a brotherhood, and that's the whole reason we're out there on the field today just playing for each other. "We weren't going to stop playing until that clock hit zero. There's noth- ing better than just being out there with your boys, and I'm just glad that I was able to have this opportunity with them." Greathouse embodied what his team- mates could not replicate in the form of game-altering statistics, but rather, what they never ceased to strive for even if they weren't putting up the numbers he was. Just look at sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love, who was only given 4 carries in the entire 60 minutes but still NOTRE DAME VS. OHIO STATE QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 9:45 3:38 6:17 8:00 13:23 14:17 27:40 Third-Down Conversions 2-4 0-2 1-2 2-4 2-6 3-6 5-12 Fourth-Down Conversions 2-2 0-0 0-1 1-1 2-2 1-2 3-4 Average Field Position ND-25 ND-25 ND-25 ND-22 ND-25 ND-23 ND-24 Ohio State 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 5:15 11:22 8:43 7:00 16:37 15:43 32:20 Third-Down Conversions 2-2 4-4 2-3 1-3 6-6 3-6 9-12 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Average Field Position OSU-25 OSU-22 OSU-39 OSU-22 OSU-23 OSU-32 OSU-28 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards ND OSU Nega ve 7 5 0-5 31 33 6-9 10 9 10-19 6 11 20-29 0 2 30-39 4 0 40-49 0 0 50 or more 0 2 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Notre Dame 2 1 0 1 Ohio State 5 4 1 0 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 2-10 OSU34 Leonard pass to Greathouse for 34 yards and a touchdown • 3-9 ND22 Leonard pass to Greathouse for 30 yards to OSU48 • 2-6 ND36 Leonard pass to Evans for 33 yards to OSU31 • 3-9 OSU30 Leonard pass to Greathouse for 30 yards and a touchdown Ohio State • 2-10 OSU25 Judkins rush for 70 yards to ND5 • 3-11 OSU34 Howard pass to Smith for 56 yards to ND10 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • Both Ohio State and Notre Dame finished 14-2, the third time the Buckeyes have won 14 games in a season (14-0 in 2002, 14-1 in 2014), the first time for the Irish. Ten different schools have now won 14 games a combined total of 17 times. • Notre Dame's 14 victories are the most in a single season in the history of the pro- gram. The Irish and Buckeyes are also the first college football teams to play 16 games in a season. • Notre Dame finished 4-1 against the Big Ten Conference this season. It marked the first time the Irish played five Big Ten teams in a season since 1968 (3-2). • Sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love's two-point conversion in the third quarter pushed his season points scored total to 116, four points off Jerome Bettis' single-season school record of 120. • Graduate student linebacker Jack Kiser extended his Notre Dame program record for games played in a career, appearing in his 70th game. Howard Cross III ranks second all-time in games played at Notre Dame, appearing in his 66th career contest. Greathouse racked up 6 catches for 128 yards and 2 touch- downs in helping Notre Dame attempt to mount a second-half comeback. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER