A game-deciding touchdown with one second left. A coach cutting the equivalent of a WWE promo. A young quarterback proving himself in the final minute. And a superstar receiver playing on a bad ankle, making one massive catch on that final drive.
Ohio State-Notre Dame had it all, somehow eclipsing the hype of this top-10 showdown. It wasn’t determined until Buckeyes coach Ryan Day’s gutsy play call with one second left, deciding to run it with Chip Trayanum over the left side that capped a 15-play, 65-yard drive over the final 1:26 masterfully engineered by quarterback Kyle McCord.
Day punctuated one of the biggest wins of his career by going scorched earth on former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz, who had questioned Ohio State’s toughness entering the game.
The fuming Day went off, proclaiming: “It’s always been Ohio against the world, and it’ll continue to be Ohio against the world.”
He could have a future working for Vince McMahon when his coaching days are up.
Months down the road, we may remember this night as the one that sent Ohio State to a memorable season and was a turning point for McCord, a junior making his fifth start.
Through the season’s first four weeks, it is the most impressive win any team has recorded. Better than Texas’ win over Alabama or either of Florida State’s victories over LSU and Clemson.
Led by Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman, Notre Dame is a legitimate playoff contender. Its defense is strong and the offense is lethal. It outplayed Ohio State for large portions of this contest. It rushed for 176 yards, controlled the ball for nearly 10 more minutes and limited all-everything receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. to three catches for 32 yards, albeit on a turned ankle.
It, however, couldn’t put Ohio State away, giving the Buckeyes the ball back with 1:26 left. McCord then made the plays some were unsure he could make, highlighted by a 22-yard strike to Emeka Egbuka on 3rd-and-19 to the Notre Dame one-yard-line.
It led to Trayanum’s one-yard score, a play in which Notre Dame only had 10 men on the field. Trayanum ran exactly where that lineman was missing.
Afterward, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said the Irish tried to get that extra lineman on the field but didn’t have time and didn’t want to risk a penalty. It was a bad decision. They should’ve taken the penalty. It was a decision that could haunt Freeman and Notre Dame, which is in the middle of the most difficult part of its schedule.
Next week it visits undefeated Duke. Two weeks after that, it hosts Caleb Williams and USC.
Freeman went from picking up arguably the biggest win of his young coaching career to knowing this gaffe may have prevented it and sent the Irish in the wrong direction.
Ohio State, meanwhile, won the kind of game it has lost in recent years, exhibiting the mental toughness that had been lacking.
Both teams will remember this night in the months to come – for two very different reasons.
Dabo Swinney coached not to lose. He coached scared. He coached conservatively. As so often happens in such a scenario, he lost. Clemson outplayed Florida State. It was the better team.
Its coach, however, didn’t have the confidence in his players in key moments.
The most egregious decision came late in regulation when Swinney played for a field goal rather than trying to score a touchdown, opting for a quarterback sneak on 3rd-and-long. Keep in mind that his kicker, Jonathan Weitz, had just come out of retirement. Weitz, a former backup, missed a 29-yarder with 1:45 left. Then, after stopping Florida State, Clemson could have attempted a Hail Mary near midfield but opted to let the clock run out. Swinney later said the team was too disorganized.
In overtime, there were more questions, particularly consecutive passing attempts on third and fourth down when Clemson needed just to gain a single yard to move the chains. The third down play was a run-pass option and quarterback Cade Klubnik opted to pass.
“We’ve got to get better as coaches there and help our quarterback,” Swinney said. “That’s got to get handed off.”
A lot of things, in fact, should’ve been handled differently by Clemson and its coach, who are now out of the playoff mix before October after a second loss.
The reaction on social media to Colorado getting thumped by Oregon was beyond extreme. It wasn’t based in reality. There was glee. There was an element of surprise. There was an inordinate amount of mocking of Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes.
This was supposed to happen. Colorado was a 21-point underdog. It was without its best player, two-way star Travis Hunter. It was on the road against a top-10 team. I guess part of it is Sanders fatigue and the bravado he’s shown after each of his team’s three victories.
It just seemed over the top. This is a team that won one game a year ago. That is almost completely new and will be overmatched against most top-25 teams in the trenches.
Give Sanders this: Even in a lopsided defeat, he drives content.
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