Then, for the biggest play of the game, Notre Dame decided to leave Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith on an island. It was third and 12 and the Fighting Irish would get the ball back with a stop with a chance to tie the game. Smith completely burned his defender and he was wide open for a huge gain, and he iced the game.

Ohio State’s defense has been hard to score on all season and that remained true even in a College Football Playoff National Championship game where it surrendered 23 points to Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are one of just four teams in the last two years to score more than 17 points with the others being eventual nation champions Georgia (2022) and Michigan (2023) plus Oregon this