Notre Dame’s Resilience Shines in Orange Bowl
Strip it all away.
Strip away the program-record 14 wins. Strip away the Sugar and Orange Bowl victories. At the core of this Notre Dame football team are 120 resilient players who will stop at nothing to achieve team glory.
That’s special, and it was on full display during the Irish’s 27-24 win over Penn State Thursday night to punch their ticket to the CFP National Championship.
In many ways, the win was a microcosm of the entire season. Each game provided a lesson that Notre Dame needed to learn in order to come through Thursday night in Miami.
The high of College Station, the low of Northern Illinois and the winning culture developed in the 10 games that followed. No matter what happened, this team was going to find a way — just like it had all season long.
“In your lowest moment, you find out the most about yourself, and we've had low moments, but we had a really low moment,” head coach Marcus Freeman said.
“We’ve got great players that chose to put this University and this football program in front of themselves, and that to me is probably the single thing I’m most proud of is how we have a group of individuals that truly put Notre Dame football in front of themselves.”
The first half of the Orange Bowl didn’t resemble the Notre Dame team that dominated every team on its path to team glory for 12 straight wins. The defense was getting pushed around — allowing 141 rushing yards — and the offense was non-existent, only putting up three points.
It may have felt like the team had a mountain to climb, but Notre Dame found itself down just a touchdown.
“I wanted them to understand we did not play to our standard in the first half, and credit to Penn State for what they did on both sides of the ball, but it was a seven-point game,” Freeman said. “It didn't feel like going into the locker room, but it was a seven-point game, and our guys went out there and performed in the second half.”
In reality, the climb began just before the team headed into the locker room. It happened when their leader, Riley Leonard, was pulled out and evaluated for a concussion. In came backup quarterback Steve Angeli, who went 6-7 to lead the Irish into field goal range to cut the deficit to that seven.
Angeli is just one of many examples of guys who stepped up for injured teammates and was ready for his moment, no matter how quick it was.
“He's a guy that put team first,” Freeman told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt. “That's what I love about Steve, more than anything is he continues to put this place in front of himself. That was a huge drive for us to get three points with your backup quarterback. I hope it’s not overlooked.”
And coming back out of the break, the second half resembled the team Notre Dame established itself as after Week 2.
No one showed that resilience more than Jeremiyah Love, who through all the injuries, all the pain, powered through numerous Penn State defenders and extended his outstretched arms across the goal line to score and put the Irish back in the driver's seat.
The defense snapped back to its dominant self, allowing just 63 yards rushing in the second half. Even after being given numerous reasons to give up after seeing two interceptions wiped out be penalties, they didn’t. They kept fighting.
This team kept fighting after Penn State scored a pair of touchdowns to take the lead back in the fourth quarter. This team kept fighting after Leonard threw his second interception. This team kept fighting after Penn State got the ball back with a minute to go.
This team fought to the very end in a game where it looked like they were dead in the water. But they’ve been there before, and just like they did after that loss, they got back up. Many said Notre Dame’s season was over on Sept. 7th.
Those people were off by 135 days.
Resiliency is this team’s greatest strength. No matter the obstacle, Freeman’s group of misfits will find a way. Even if that means playing with a backup left tackle, backup right guard and backup quarterback, this team finds a way time and time again.
All for team glory.
And putting team glory ahead of themselves was still prevalent postgame. As their teammates were celebrating, Leonard and Christian Gray sat at the podium, away from them, to answer questions. Even though they would’ve much rather have been in the locker room, they went anyway. All for team glory.
“I know Riley and (Christian) truly would rather be in that locker room celebrating than being up here,” Freeman said. “But that's what it takes. It takes 120 guys saying, ‘You know what? Who cares how many plays I get? Who cares what type of individual praise I get? It's all for Notre Dame and to make sure we achieve team glory.’
“And we have a locker room of guys made up of that, and that to me is a reflection of what you saw today.”