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ATLANTA — Fourth down has been the friend of Notre Dame football all year, and it was again at times in Monday’s 34-23 loss to Ohio State in the CFP national championship.
It just wasn’t in the second half on two occasions when the Irish needed it to be.
Trailing 28-7 with more than 11 minutes left in the third quarter, Notre Dame opted to run a fake punt on fourth-and-2 from its 33-yard-line. Backup quarterback Steve Angeli entered as the stealthy upback and took a direct snap.
Rolling to his right, Angeli fired a low pass to a sliding Jordan Faison along the sideline. The sure-handed Faison couldn’t make the play, and Ohio State was able to stretch its lead to 31-7 with a 46-yard field goal on the ensuing series.
Grading the Irish: How did Notre Dame football fare after loss to Ohio State?
Earlier, Irish quarterback Riley Leonard ran for a pair of fourth-and-1 conversions on the 18-play game-opening touchdown drive that milked nearly 10 minutes off the clock.
Leonard also found Jaden Greathouse for 11 yards on a fourth-and-5 play from the Buckeyes’ 33 early in the fourth quarter.
Trailing 31-15, Notre Dame stalled on that same drive after reaching the plus-8. On fourth-and-goal from the 9, Irish coach Marcus Freeman opted for a 27-yard field goal with Mitch Jeter, who hit the left upright on a miss.
“I just thought instead of being down 16, let’s try to go down 13,” Freeman said. “I know it’s still a two-score game, but you have a better probability of getting 14 points than you do 16 points.”
Notre Dame’s offense entered eighth in FBS with a 73.1% conversion rate (19 of 26) on fourth down. Ohio State’s defense came in tied for 16th nationally in fourth-down conversions allowed (41.4%).
“If it was a shorter fourth-and-goal situation, I probably would have gone for it,” Freeman said. “But I just…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/notre-dame-football-coach-marcus-074745408.html
Author : South Bend Tribune
Publish date : 2025-01-21 07:47:00
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