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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Before Mitch Jeter’s 41-yard field goal sent Notre Dame to the national championship game, before Christian Gray’s diving interception set it up or before Jeremiyah Love’s mutant performance on a braced right knee, Marcus Freeman stood before his team inside the Diplomat Hotel on Hollywood Beach on Wednesday afternoon.
Notre Dame’s head coach had just returned from a final news conference before kickoff, the kind of throwaway media gathering usually forgotten before the last bowl trophy photo can be snapped. This wasn’t one of those times. Not for Freeman, Notre Dame’s head coach whose youth had cut against the grain of what it takes to succeed in this sport of old guards and vintage attitudes.
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Love aggravated his MCL injury against Georgia, enough that his availability seemed to be in question before Notre Dame arrived in Florida. And even during the week, Love didn’t know if he’d be able to do more than just take snaps, which wouldn’t have been enough for Notre Dame. Not in a game like this.
After two Singleton touchdowns pushed Penn State ahead 24-17, making it seem like Notre Dame might not have a response to these latest questions being asked, Leonard shook off a brutal interception to find Jaden Greathouse for a 54-yard touchdown with 4:38 to play.
And then Notre Dame closed the door on Penn State the way it best knows how, baiting Drew Allar into an interception it believed had been coming all night…
And so Notre Dame turned to Gray’s pick into a seven-play, 19-yard procession into field goal range. By then, Franklin had burned through his timeouts, not even able to ice Jeter’s game-winning try. And maybe it wouldn’t have mattered anyway…
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