Notre Dame players emphasize being themselves ahead of CFP title game against Ohio State

Notre Dame’s pursuit of its first national football championship in nearly 40 years is one of self-belief.

“This team has really bought into winning this entire thing,” wide receiver Jaden Greathouse said Wednesday.

Greathouse, speaking to media less than a week removed from perhaps his biggest play of the season, when he got past two defenders in Penn State’s secondary en route to a game-tying, 54-yard touchdown with less than five minutes remaining in the College Football Playoff semifinal, emphasized a team chemistry that propels confidence for the Irish.

“We’re really not to be messed with,” Greathouse said. “We have playmakers, and whether everybody sees that or not, we don’t really care. We’re going to do what we do.”

That belief – that sticking with who they are will be enough to win the national championship game against Ohio State on Monday in Atlanta – echoed in several players’ comments this week.

“We’re not going to change who we are,” freshman cornerback Leonard Moore said when asked about how to defend Ohio State’s high-powered offense.

“A lot of teams have went to the zone mindset with playing them,” Moore observed. “We’re going to play man coverage like we do every week. We’re going to go out there and challenge the receivers.”

Moore has good reason to be confident after the Orange Bowl, when Notre Dame held Penn State wide receivers to zero receptions. But the Irish know that Ohio State will present a challenge.
Linebacker Jaylen Sneed knows the defensive unit will need to improve from its Orange Bowl performance. “We just really talked about being more violent, playing a little bit faster this game, just learning from our mistakes that happened last game.

“Felt like we started a little slow in the first half last week. I think we want to start fast.”
In the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/notre-dame-players-emphasize-being-182547638.html

Author : NBC Sports

Publish date : 2025-01-16 18:25:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.