With a 13-game win streak and a historic playoff run, the Irish came to Atlanta with high hopes of securing their first national title since 1988 and defeating rival Ohio State University for the first time in nearly 90 years. Having knocked off three other teams in the playoff — Indiana, Georgia and Penn State — the Irish came into the game as underdogs with a real shot of making history. As the game progressed, however, the Irish failed to play at the caliber that had delivered them to the championship game, with failures from the defense, offense and special teams alike. The team struggled to keep hope alive in the face of a physical Buckeyes team but scrambled to the very end to close in on the Ohio State lead.
“We obviously didn't play the way we needed to to get the outcome we want, but as I said to the guys in the locker room, there [are] not many words to say when everybody is hurting,” head coach Marcus Freeman said after the game. “There were some things on both sides of the ball that we don't normally do and some communication mistakes, self-inflicted wounds that we haven't been doing the past few weeks. You're always making mistakes, but those type of detrimental mistakes when you play a really, really good football team cost you points.”
Ohio State won the game’s coin toss, thrown by Dr. Bernice King, and deferred possession of the ball to the second half. The Irish showed signs of an aggressive offense, opening the game with its longest scoring drive of the season, and the longest in championship history, with a total of 18 plays, 75 yards and 9:45 off the clock. Senior quarterback Riley Leonard rushed nine times in the drive, climaxing with a 1-yard touchdown in the Irish end zone. Graduate kicker Mitch Jeter continued his playoff streak of successful kicks, bringing the Irish up 7-0.
“That first drive we just came out and played Notre Dame football, took advantage of our matchups when we had to. We just drove the ball down the field. We had to run the ball a little bit. Everything was just clicking,” Leonard said in the press conference.
From Ohio State’s very first drive, the Irish defense showed signs of weakness, despite attempts from graduate safety Xavier Watts, who achieved a 5-yard loss from Buckeyes wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. The Buckeyes ended the first quarter on first and 10 with the ball on the Irish 13-yard line.
At the beginning of the second quarter, after a 5-yard rush from Buckeyes running back Quinshon Judkins, quarterback Will Howard passed to Smith for a touchdown, tying the game.
Irish possession of the ball ended in less than two minutes of playtime, brought down by successive penalties and a fair catch of graduate student James Rendell’s fourth-down punt.
The Buckeyes offense was on fire, with Howard setting a College Football Playoff record with 13 consecutive completions to start the game. With the Irish defense faltering and failing to make tackles, Judkins scored a 9-yard touchdown, securing a Buckeyes lead at 14-7 after another good kick by Jayden Fielding.
On its third drive, the Irish offense didn’t significantly move the ball, and a punt by Rendell was returned by Ohio State wide receiver Brandon Inniss.
With the ball back in the Buckeyes’ hands, the stadium held its collective breath as Watts closely failed to intercept a pass intended for Buckeyes running back TreVeyon Henderson. Howard took the second down opportunity to rush 11 yards and set Ohio State up for its third touchdown with 27 seconds left in the half. The time was just enough for Leonard to complete a 7-yard pass.
After a halftime performance from the roof of the stadium by rapper Travis Scott, the Buckeyes collected on their deferred possession and used their fourth drive to achieve a fourth touchdown, accomplished after a 70-yard rush by Judkins, who subsequently made a 1-yard touchdown, followed by a good kick, putting the Buckeyes at a definitive 28-7 advantage over the Irish.
Notre Dame failed to revive its chances on the next drive after a fake punt executed by quarterback Steve Angeli that Faison dropped.
Ohio State continued its domination, using a fourth down after a incomplete throw to the end zone to execute a 46-yard field goal and up the score to 31-7.
Despite the seemingly insurmountable lead and a roaring crowd that was more scarlet than green, the Irish persisted. Even as the camera showed dejected Notre Dame fans across the stadium, the offense refused to go down without a fight.
On the sixth Irish drive, Leonard sought to build momentum, completing passes to get two successive first downs, getting sacked, and then getting another. The drive ended with a short pass to sophomore wide receiver Jaden Greathouse, who ran for a 36-yard touchdown. With a pass to sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love, the Irish made a two-point conversion, finally moving within double digits at 31-15.
Building on the momentum, the Irish defense stepped up at the beginning of the fourth quarter, as sophomore linebacker Drayk Bowen forced a fumble from Ohio State star wide receiver Emeka Egbuka and fellow Irish freshman linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa caught the ball, returning possession to the Irish.
Leonard initially misstepped and threw an incomplete pass despite openings down the field but rectified the error with a 30-yard pass to Greathouse. The Irish made their way down the field to the 27-yard line, where the team — down 16 points and with 9:38 left on the clock — attempted a fourth-down field goal, a questionable decision prompted by the aggressive physicality of Ohio State’s defense. Despite his recent performance, Jeter hit the goalpost, a devastating setback.
“I think it was fourth and 9 or 10, and I just thought instead of being down 16, let's try to go down 13. I know it's still a two-score game, but you have a better probability of getting 14 points than you do 16 points,” Freeman said to explain the coaching call.
Forced into a fourth down on their next possesion, Buckeyes punter Joe McGuire punted the ball 51 yards, but the ball was caught and returned 10 yards by Irish graduate corner Max Hurleman.
Leonard stepped up again, capping a five-play drive with a 30-yard pass — despite pass interference — to Greathouse in the end zone for a touchdown, followed by a two-point conversion, bringing the Irish within eight points of the Buckeyes at 31-23. After two eight-point plays, and just over four minutes left on the clock, hope was resurrected and the Irish fan section’s roars echoed through the stadium.
The Buckeyes took the ball with just over four minutes left in the game and effectively ran out the clock. With two minutes, left, Howard completed a 56-yard pass to Smith. Ohio State called two timeouts, and Fielding successfully kicked a 33-yard field, bringing the score to 34-23 with 28 seconds left in the game.
Though the Irish had already effectively lost, they played to the very end, with Leonard losing two yards on a pass to Love and then hitting a 17-yard pass to Greathouse. But time had already ended.
The field exploded into red confetti as the Irish sang the final Alma Mater of the season.
“We didn't get it done, and it hurts. My job is to figure out why, and I will, but I told these guys, they've left this program better — I don't care if you were here for one year or you've been here for six years; our program is in a better place because of the examples these two have set, and many other leaders in that locker room,” Freeman said.
“The outlook of Notre Dame football is extremely high. As long as the people in that locker room that come back understand what it takes, the work these guys have put in, there's a lot of success in our future,” he added.
