ATLANTA — Marcus Freeman peered behind the barricade outside the Notre Dame locker room, his eyes trained on a television screen screwed into a concrete wall in the bowels of Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
On the screen, Ohio State coach Ryan Day was readying himself to hoist the national championship trophy after holding off a furious comeback by the Irish in a 34-23 win Monday night. Freeman’s gaze never changed as his alma mater celebrated, his eyes steady and jaw firm as he loosely palmed his chin, absorbing the moment.
There was not much else to do for Notre Dame’s head coach, other than watch.
“As I said to the guys in the locker room, there’s not many words to say when everybody is hurting,” Freeman said.
There will be plenty to ponder as to what went wrong for the Irish, who started the game with a perfect touchdown drive — the longest in College Football History — but repeatedly stubbed their toes the remainder of the first half as Ohio State gained control, utilizing their blazing speed at receiver and running back — along with a perfect 13-of-13 passing start by Will Howard — to pull ahead 31-7 early in the second half. Then, as they had all season, the pluck of the Irish stormed back, erasing a 24-point deficit midway through the third quarter to pull within a score late in the fourth.
This wasn’t a blowout. This wasn’t a massive mismatch. Twelve years ago, Notre Dame was out-muscled and out-classed by Alabama in a 42-14 demolition at the national championship. On Monday night, the Irish simply didn’t reach the hallmarks that had defined their season: forcing turnovers, executing mistake-free possessions and limiting big plays with a tough-as-nails defense.
By the time Notre Dame approached those touchstones early in the fourth quarter, it seemed too late — and yet familiar — particularly after how the Irish rallied from a 10-point deficit in the semifinals to beat Penn State just 11 days ago. Linebacker Drayk Bowen provided the hope when he punched the ball out of the cradle of Ohio State receiver Emeka Egbuka’s grasp on a 34-yard catch, setting up the offense to pull within a score.
“We felt the momentum shift,” Bowen said. “We knew something was going to change.”
Instead, the Irish’s next possession stalled inside the 10-yard line and Freeman inexplicably opted to kick a field goal on fourth-and-goal at the 9-yard line. Mitch Jeter’s kick, which would have kept the score a two-touchdown game, ricocheted off the left upright. No good. Notre Dame trailed 31-15.
“I know it’s still a two-score game, but you have a better probability of getting 14 points than you do 16 points,” Freeman reasoned.
Mistakes led to Notre Dame’s demise, but so, too, did Ohio State’s speed. Receiver Jeremiah Smith seemed poised to break through Notre Dame’s secondary all night, lining up to the wide side of the field in an effort to avoid bracket coverage. When he finally had an opportunity, he did so in the biggest moment of the game, running past cornerback Christian Gray for a 56-yard grab to convert a third-and-11 with 2:29 remaining.
The Irish ran a zero-blitz pressure with man coverage in a “do or die” moment in the game, Freeman said.
“That’s always sad when that happens because everybody looks at that player,” defensive coordinator Al Golden said. “Certainly I should be looked at for putting him in that position.”
Even so, Notre Dame still had an opportunity to win thanks to the fight of quarterback Riley Leonard and the emergence of receiver Jaden Greathouse in the second half. Leonard ran nine times on that history-making first possession that spanned nearly 10 minutes and took 18 plays. He fell awkwardly on the ball a few times, leading him to run to the sideline after scoring so he could throw up in a nearby trash can. He didn’t seem the same on the ensuing possessions in the first half.
“The next couple drives maybe I got relaxed a little bit, and I can’t let that happen,” Leonard said. “And I apologize to everybody for the way that I played after that drive in the second quarter because it’s unacceptable.”
Something awakened in Leonard — perhaps he was better hydrated after emerging from the locker room at halftime.
He was 17 of 22 passing for 209 yards and two touchdowns in the final two quarters, including a beautiful 30-yard throw to Greathouse to help the Irish pull within one possesion with 4:10 remaining.
Interestingly, Leonard ran the ball only eight more times after the opening drive, falling one carry short of his season high of 18.
“He got pretty beat up and banged up on the first drive, so I had to be mindful of that as we went through it,” offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said. “The heart, the battle, the belief, it’s obviously a pretty emotional locker room from what they’ve been through this season and what they hoped to accomplish today.”
Fans might criticize the Irish’s defense, but they played well schematically and were mostly in position to make plays — and didn’t allow many explosive plays in the first 30 minutes — but the simplicity of Ohio State’s superior athleticism is that the bigger and faster men almost always win.
“I feel like we were pretty step for step with them,” Bowen said. “They had a good scheme, obviously, they knew what they wanted to do.”
Ohio State overwhelmed the Irish on the edges, pounded them in the middle and pushed Notre Dame without injured star Rylie Mills eating up space and applying much-needed pressure at defensive tackle.
“We countered it better in the second half by creating some negatives and getting off the field on third down,” Golden said. “We just didn’t do that for the whole 60 minutes. They’re just too good not to do that.”
Ohio State became only the second team to eclipse 30 points against the nation’s No. 2 scoring defense, converting its first six third downs on the way to touchdowns on the first four possessions — a championship game record. Notre Dame also forced only one turnover, a hallmark during their 13-game winning streak, which included a plus-18 margin this season.
As for the mistakes? Well, the Irish failed to cover a ghost return on a play disguised as a reverse, leading to Smith’s 8-yard touchdown in the first quarter. Gray, who gave up the game-clinching 56-yard catch, was also on that side of the field when the play began.
Then came the biggest bust of the game on the second play of the second half: Quinshon Judkins exploding for a 70-yard run when Notre Dame’s defenders jumped outside of an outnumbered box. Golden believed that play was the difference in the game.
“The unforced error on the second play of the second half was just criminal, because if you are that off the board, they really have to work for everything in the second half,” the defensive play-caller said.
Notre Dame’s players were understandably emotional after the game, wiping away tears and consoling each other on the field and as they walked to the locker room. As Ohio State players puffed on cigars down on the other side of the stadium, Notre Dame players were mostly quiet, some with tears in their eyes. A few grew frustrated with reporters asking questions and yelled expletives in a heated moment that ended without incident.
Yes, there was plenty of fight left in the Irish, who many, including the media, left for dead in Week 2 after a 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois at home. Notre Dame didn’t wilt and won 13 straight games, including three in the playoffs, to advance to the national championship for the first time since 2012.
“The reality is we all had a little bit of doubt, but we all chose to work, and we all chose to trust each other and choose to love each other and be selfless and put the team in front of ourselves,” Freeman said. “And we did it every week. You still had to trust beyond knowing if your work was going to get you the result that you wanted, and they continued to do it. They put this program in a position to play for a national championship.”
In a game that many at Notre Dame might try to forget, there were moments of glory and promise. Consider Bowen, the feisty sophomore linebacker, who Golden labeled as the future face of the defense. “Just a warrior, just an elite competitor all game. Not one time did he ever flinch.”
Next season the roster will be different, sure. Gone will be Leonard but running back Jeremiyah Love, who was slowed by injury and picked up only three yards on four carries Monday, returns along with a young and excellent offensive line.
“Coming back next year,” said Bowen, “we’re gonna really be a force to be dealt with.”