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SOUTH BEND — So many moments, so many big plays, key plays, season and College Football Playoff defining plays for Notre Dame football over the last month.
How do you keep it all straight? What about that one? Or this one? Or those? They tend to run together in this magical run that the Irish have found themselves on since the CFP playoffs started at home at night in December.
Three playoff games down, one big one — the biggest — to go.
Following are the top nine plays (or in one case, drives) — three from each of the first three CFP games — during this tournament that have helped Notre Dame (14-1) advance to Monday’s national championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta against Ohio State (13-2).
Moments are ranked from three to one (the best) for each of three games.
3. One really big drive
Notre Dame had already made history by hosting the first College Football Playoff home game against Indiana. Why not make a little more?
The Irish climbed into the CFP record book with the longest drive in playoff history — a 16-play, 83-yard march that chewed 9:08 of clock. Notre Dame’s offense got a little something from everyone. Riley Leonard conducted everything. Freshman Aneyas Williams was a factor. So was Jadarian Price. And Jordan Faison.
Leonard capped the drive with a 5-yard flip to Jayden Thomas at the start of the second quarter to make it 14-0. That drive bested the previous longest drive in CFP history, also set by Notre Dame against Alabama in 2021.
2. Bye, bye Love
For many of the previous 20 days, sophomore tailback Jeremiyah Love’s right knee was the most talked about right knee in Northern Indiana. Maybe college football. Was it OK? Was he OK?
Love tweaked the knee in the regular-season finale at USC, then had nearly three weeks to rest and recover. We didn’t have to wait long to see if he did….
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/notre-dame-reached-national-championship-152714714.html
Author : Indianapolis Star
Publish date : 2025-01-14 15:27:00
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