By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — A diving interception off an ill-advised pass set up Notre Dame’s trip to play for the program’s 12th national title after a thrill-a-minute 27-24 victory over Penn State on Thursday night in the Orange Bowl.
Fighting Irish defensive back Christian Gray snared Drew Allar’s pass across the middle at the Nittany Lions’ 42-yard line with 33 seconds left, then the Irish moved 19 yards to set up Mitch Jeter’s 41-yard winner with seven seconds left.
The game featured three ties, three lead changes and 31 points in the fourth quarter alone.
Notre Dame (14-1), the seventh seed in this first 12-team college playoff, will have a chance to win its first championship since 1988 when it faces the winner of Friday night’s Texas-Ohio State semifinal game on Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
In the final, Irish coach Marcus Freeman will try to become the first Black coach to win the title at college football’s highest level.
“We’ve been right here in this position before, and they believed and I got the job done, and I’m proud of them,” Freeman said.
Sixth-seeded Penn State (13-3) fell agonizingly short in a game it controlled over the first 28 minutes. Coach James Franklin fell to 4-20 with the Nittany Lions against teams ranked in the AP Top 10.
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 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.”
Leonard finished with 223 yards passing, including a key 10-yard dart to Jaden Greathouse to convert a third-and-3 on the last drive. Leonard also had 35 yards rushing, and passed and ran for a score each. With 4:38 left in the game, Leonard hit Greathouse for a 54-yard score to tie the game at 24 after a Penn State defender slipped.
The game started slow (and boring), but Riley’s injury injected life into things. He led Notre Dame on touchdown drives of 75 and 72 yards in the third quarter to take a 17-10 lead.
At that point, the game 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.
Penn State forced a Notre Dame punt and looked assured of at least going to overtime when it took over at its 15-yard line with 33 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.
“Just catch the ball. Just catch the ball,” Gray said. “That was going through my mind and I knew I was going to make a play.”
Allar said he looked at the first two options on the play and saw neither were open, then was trying to throw the ball into the ground.
“Honestly, I was trying to throw it at his feet,” Allar said. “I should’ve thrown it away when I saw the first two progressions were not open. I didn’t execute.”
Officials reviewed 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 Northern Illinois back in September.
Off target for much of the day, Allar finished 12 for 23 for 135 yards with the interception. Nick Singleton ran for 84 yards and all three Penn State touchdowns.
CHILLY CONDITIONS
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 and felt like the upper 30s.
LEINART, MEYER BOOED
Evidently, Notre Dame and Penn State fans still don’t like former USC quarterback Matt Leinart and former Ohio State and Florida coach Urban Meyer.
They were introduced before the game as new members of the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame and were roundly booed – Meyer getting the worst of it.
Also introduced as a Hall of Famer: former University of Miami lineman Vince Wilfork, whose reception was far warmer.
More to come on this story.