Miami, FL — Penn State is not going to the national championship game.
It was more heartbreak for the Nittany Lions as they watched their 24-17 fourth quarter lead slip away.
A Mitch Jeter field goal with seconds left following a short Notre Dame drive set up by Christian Gray’s interception of Drew Allar culminated in a 27-24 Penn State loss in the Orange Bowl.
Penn State got the scoring started in the second quarter on a Ryan Barker field goal. It could have been more considering Penn State had first and goal from the 3-yard line and Nicholas Singleton dropped a walk-in touchdown.
Penn State got its first touchdown of the night– the first by either team, actually– on its next possession. It was a thing of beauty:
Notre Dame finally scored on its last possession of the first half, getting a last-second field goal to go into halftime down 10-3.
ND then got the ball to start the second half and it capitalized, going 75 yards and eight plays and scoring on a 3-yard run by QB Riley Leonard.
It remained tied at 10 going into the fourth quarter. Early in the fourth quarter, a tough 2-yard run by Jeremiyah Love gave Notre Dame its first lead of the night.
But Penn State responded with a 7-play, 75-yard TD drive to tie it up, with a 7-yard TD run by Singleton bringing it home.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.An interception by Dani Dennis-Sutton set Penn State up in ND territory. Five plays later, Penn State scored to take the lead on Singleton’s third rushing touchdown.
Notre Dame would answer with a drive of their own. A seven play, 81-yard drive that ended with a 54-yard touchdown pass from Leonard to Jaden Greathouse after the Penn State cornerback tripped in coverage.
With the game tied, the two combatants traded punts.
Then, disaster.
Penn State had the ball with 38 seconds to work with and three timeouts. Plenty of time to move into field goal range. But after a 12-yard scamper by Singleton came the play that will live in infamy for Penn State fans. Notre Dame cornerback Christian Gray picked off Allar at the 42 yard line.
Notre Dame was able to chew up most of the remaining clock while moving in for a short field goal. The 41-yarder from Jeter was true and there would be no miracle for the Nittany Lions on the ensuing kick off.
Another season of what-ifs for Penn State who blew a 10-point lead and a 7-point lead in the game.
Notre Dame will play the winner of Ohio State-Texas Jan. 20.
